Redrawn
by Japanimal
Summary: <html><head></head>Link draws the Four Sword again when Vaati breaks free with the help of a shadowy doppelganger, planning to destroy the land of Hyrule and Link's hard earned reputation. Link sets out with the help of his colorful clones to save Hyrule. A novelization of Four Swords Adventure; written as an implied sequel to Four Swords. Rated T for Violence, Language, and general Badassery.</html>
1. Chapter 1

RE-DRAWN  
>LoZ-FSA<p>

Link's Awakening

Link sat up in a field; green, encircled by trees and filled with the sounds of an early spring morning. It was still pretty early in the morning, with the sun just shining over the top of the tree line which nearly encircled the field. The field itself was pretty grassy, and still damp. There was a strange post sticking out of the ground a few feet ahead of him and a decent sized rock near where he lay, and there were a couple of bushes scattered here and there across the field, none bigger than himself, but other than that, the field was empty. The grass around him was slightly uprooted and wind lashed, as though a great storm had passed throughout here, maybe even a tornado...

_Tornado? Why does that ring a bell?_ Thought link, as a string of thoughts involving a whirlwind and cries for help ran through his head. He tried to remember why this was significant, as it had seemed very recent, but the more he thought more about it, the more details slipped further away.

_Vaati_ his subconscious mumbled, and Link brushed the thought aside, that didn't seem to fit. This memory seemed different than those events so long ago…

His mind wandered as he tried to remember what he was so distraught about, and he decided to look at the environment and examine his surroundings to try and remember how he got here. The second he looked down, he regretted he had. Next to him lay the troublesome blade he once wielded so long ago, during his most rambunctious and wildest adventures. Link stared at the weapon with a look that could have been a mix of despair and disbelief when like a flash; all of the events of the previous night came rushing back to him with a horrific sense of dread.

The rain was coming down, and hard. But Link had his mind set on going outside. He was putting on his traditional green tunic as fast as he could, and totally disregarding his usual weapons and armor. Zelda had sent a summons to Link, saying he had to come to the sanctuary of the Four Sword as soon as he could. Most importantly though, she said come alone. Link knew that Zelda loved the rain, and the sanctuary was always under heavy guard by Hyrule's finest foot soldiers, but the inside was usually left empty. He had hoped that he could finally make some progress on their relationship, since Zelda still hadn't even given her hero a hug for saving her from a forced marriage with a one eyed abomination known as Vaati, the wind sorcerer. Life had been incredibly hectic since he returned the Four Sword to the shrine only about 6 months ago, and in that time, he had only seen Zelda in passing, or under the highest guard, thus leaving Link to fend for himself with his newfound fame.

Everywhere he went, he was praised by people for saving Hyrule and their families, but the one person that mattered most hadn't seemed to notice. Hopefully he could finally be "properly thanked" for saving the majestic maiden.  
>Link checked the room for any other supplies he would need for his 'quest' and decided to toss a bit of Lon Lon cologne on<em>. For luck<em> he thought, chuckling to himself. With high hopes, Link rushed to get his boots on and got a running start to the door. As he opened the door, a huge gust of wind knocked the door slamming into Link's eager face. Link silently swore to himself as water went flying into his open abode. He grabbed his shield to use as a temporary umbrella as he sprinted out the opened door towards the Sanctuary of the Four Sword to rendezvous with princess Zelda.

When he arrived completely drenched at the entrance to the sanctuary, Link noticed the guards looked terrified. They jumped at every thunderclap and would shake in fear if the strong winds blew as much as a leaf across the courtyard. It worried him; the guards were always a jumpy bunch who weren't the strictest training, but they had more discipline than this show of cowardice. In hindsight though, Link hadn't seen a single person out in the storm, and all doors were sealed shut with lights on, everyone was afraid of this storm, and what it would bring, whatever that was.

He went up to who was clearly the leader, a tall man that looked almost Goron-like due to his massive stature and bulky armor, his face obscured by the helmet he wore and by the pounding rain coming in from all sides. Link sized him up unconsciously and decided that he could tear that man apart on the battlefield. Size difference aside, a grizzled war veteran was still no match for the legendary warrior, after all, Link had fought bigger. As Link approached, the man looked down and noticed him as if for the first time and snapped his fingers and barked an undecipherable syllable. Almost instantaneously, his men jumped into a line to bar Link's path.

"I have direct clearance from Zelda herself to enter" Link said exasperatedly, he didn't have time for this, Zelda needed him now.

"Do you have your papers on you?" barked the commander over the roaring wind and thunder.

Link groaned, and pulled out a soggy sheet of paper that Zelda had sent. The commander examined the pass as it was briefly illuminated by a flash of lightning, and took what was left of it.  
>"I'll need to get this verified first, wait right here." the leader said condescendingly, and as Link opened his mouth to say something he would undoubtedly regret, a shrill and urgent voice cut across the courtyard.<p>

"LET HIM THROUGH!" the voice yelled.

The general turned to see who was ordering him, and Link peered around his huge frame.  
>Standing on the stormy path leading into the sanctuary was Princess Zelda. Her dark blonde hair tossed about wildly in the wind and her royal lavender dress was darkened to a deep purple by the pounding rain. She ushered with one hand to Link, indicating he should come in. She didn't need to invite twice, as Link skipped across the path almost as quickly as his heart, leaving behind him a dejected and cold general, scowling slightly at the hometown hero.<p>

* * *

><p>As Link and Zelda raced up the steps, she enveloped him in a soft towel.<br>"Thanks for coming so quick, I've already assembled all the maidens and we were just about to-"

"Hang on a second," interrupted Link "remind me why I'm here again?" Zelda stared blankly for a second, and then with a start said

"Oh! I must have forgotten to tell you our concern! I'm so sorry, the maidens and I were worried about these fierce storms. They're very unusual for this time of year, wouldn't you agree?"

Link nodded quickly, indicating politely she should get to the point.

"Right, so with Vaati now sealed in a questionably safe prison, the maidens and I thought we should check the seals... just in case something was going wrong."

"Understandable" said Link sympathetically; he couldn't even begin to imagine the terror she might have dealt with in the time it took for him to save her, with all the confusion he had on his end getting to her.

"Anyway, we've got all the maidens assembled inside and we were just about to carry on the ritual, we thought we'd wait a bit for you to arrive... You know, in case something went wrong again..."

He smiled and gave her comforting look "Don't worry about it, I wouldn't let the sorcerer lay a finger on you."

Zelda smiled sheepishly "Thanks." she said. She then went up and gave link a quick kiss on the cheek "for luck." she grinned and turned to open the door. Link was glad she had, since he was blushing, strongly embarrassed.

The scene indoors was calm and meditative, just as a sanctuary usually is. The stained glass window, still being lashed with the rain from outside, overlooked the main altar. The window showed the story of the Four Sword, with room being added for his recent endeavors with the blade. The sword in question was nowhere to be seen, but that was easily credited to the it's status as a powerful artifact that, when left in the open, was merely a tool in some egomaniac's sickest fantasies. The room was bare other than that, with symbols and glyphs placed ritualistically across the floor, not that Link knew what they meant though, he just saw them.

The 6 maidens were also here, as Zelda had said, each wearing their traditional ceremonial dresses corresponding to their color. The blue maid of the coast, the yellow maid of the mountain, the red maid from the Hyrule providence, the white maid from the Woods of Light, the purple maid of the desert the green maid of the countryside.  
>All had assumed a meditative stance and were preparing for the ritual; once the door opened they all looked up.<p>

"Hi Liiiink!" they all swooned in one voice. Link smiled and bowed, become somewhat accustomed to the attention by now. _Never gets old _he thought to himself, regardless of what others said, he kinda enjoyed all the extra attention. It wasn't their fault though, he had saved each of their assigned Providences before he had even met them, and that added to his recent fame could probably bring even the wisest maiden to at least a giggle.

"-eady to start, then?"

He snapped back into focus as Zelda finished asking if the maidens had regained control. They all nodded, calming themselves for the coming incantation.

Link stood off to the side and waited. All of the maidens and Zelda closed their eyes and bowed their heads, and as hey did, a colored light began to appear around them. At first Link thought it was a trick to the eye, but the aura around the maidens quickly intensified. The air around them thrummed and small glowing energy particles began to condense around each maiden's head. Suddenly, all the maidens lifted their hands as one entity, made even more dramatic by the thunder rumble outside, and a great multicolored flower bloomed from the middle of the main altar. As the flower expanded more and more, the glow around the maidens quickly diminished. Soon, as it had appeared, the flower was fading away, as was the glow about the maidens. They all currently watched the flowers center breathlessly. Link looked and saw a small portal able to fit about four people in at a time. It shimmered and glowed like a rainbow, and Zelda slowly turned towards Link.

"The gate is open, lets go see if the sword is secure"

As she said that, there was a collective gasp from the maidens to whom Zelda had just turned her back to. Zelda turned again, making a full 360, and Link rushed to her side.  
>The portal was pitch black now and even seemed to draw in the light around itself, it was like all the joy and hope had been sucked out of the air and a foreboding sense overshadowed the group of eight. As the maidens began to turn to each other nervously, questioning what went wrong, a hand emerged from the pit.<p>

Everyone looked on with horror frozen on their faces as a lightning strike illuminated what was simply a dark grey hand groping about for a handhold, then another hand arose. Zelda turned to Link, and looked for comfort with worry written all over her face, but all he could do was stare. Suddenly, the creature inside the hole decided to drop all it's theatrics and leaped out of the hole shrieking off a primal battle cry. As the _thing_sailed through the air, Link sized it up. It was humanoid, with solid black clothes and dark grey ashy hands. The thing was roughly the size of himself, and Link tensed up, ready for battle. It landed in front of Zelda and Link and crouched forward onto one leg, leaving only its back and head visible, almost as if mockingly bowing to Zelda. Then It suddenly jerked it's face up towards Link. When their gaze met, blue eyes to a pair of red eyes, everyone in the room froze. Not simply because they were shocked that the thing from the dark portal was Link, but also because this shadow of Link was casting. Before any of the maidens could get over their shock, a crystallized barrier surrounded them one by one, slowly dragging them into the dark abyss.

It was Link's living nightmare, he was struck still from shock and he could do nothing but watch the maidens helpless and silent struggles, he saw their mouths make motions indicating that they were all screaming his name, he heard no noise though, they could he pleading for help, cursing him for whatever he had done, or just crying out in terror from there ton, but he couldn't know. He turned to see whether Zelda was alright, and she had been quicker than the other maidens and had the time to shoot off a counter-spell, which simply negated the crystal prison, but it took nearly all her focus to stave off the dark magic.

The Shadow Link noticed, and as the 6 other maidens were sucked into the portal, he rushed forward and stomped his weight onto Link's foot and shoved hard against Link's torso, pushing Link off-balance. Link flailed his arms about, trying to re-balance himself, but to no avail. Link landed heavily on his seemingly useless ass and got a grip of his self.

_SAVE HER YOU DOLT!_

Link jumped to his feet and saw Shadow Link dragging the still focused and struggling Zelda down towards the dark portal, and Link rushed boldly to meet himself in combat.

Shadow Link stood on the edge of the pit, and heard an angry bellow from behind him. He saw the normal Link charging him, and Shadow Link simply grinned and let out an unearthly chuckle. It was high pitched and had almost a childlike glee to it, rising in pitch each time it escaped his dark lips. He loosened his grip on Zelda, and waited until link was only seconds away from him, then he released Zelda, letting her fall into the corrupted portal. Side stepping Link's rush, Shadow link twirled his weight onto his right foot, spinning his left foot behind him and around in a circle to gain momentum, then slammed Link in the face with a punishing roundhouse as he charged forward. The blow knocked link off balance, and he tumbled headlong into the pit.

As he fell, he saw Zelda's face cry out in anguish and a slight crystal slowly formed around her falling body. She was loosing the telepathic battle that Link couldn't save her from. Helplessly, both of them tumbled downward, and Link saw the floor rushing at him.

_Great job hero_ he thought as he prepared himself for a meeting with his demise _you saved the princess._

He continued to tumble towards deaths cold, hard embrace, but when he opened his eyes, he notices he was just 2 feet above the ground and stabilized. He scanned the new area, and suffered a bout of nostalgia. The room he was in was the TRUE Four Swords Sanctuary, with 4 pillars with asymmetrical design adorning the path to the blade's resting place. Immediately, all other thoughts left his head when he saw his shadow glaring darkly at a still fighting Zelda next to the stone the four sword rested in. _maybe there's still time_ he thought.

Zelda slowly floated off the floor, a look of defeat slowly creeping upon her face as the dark clouds that covered this tainted place slowly filled the crystal she had become encased in. _Maybe not _another part of him suggested. The voice sounded vaguely familiar.

"NO!" he screamed, rushing forward blindly. He had to save Zelda, had to prove he was worth her. Had to defend his honor. Had to- WHAK.

Link fell face first into the ground, sliding neatly across the polished marble leading up to the stone which housed the Four Sword. His shadow had calmly tripped him, and let out that same eerie laugh he had used, distracting him from his magic standoff with Zelda.

Zelda used the distraction, and shouted encouragement to her hero through her crystallized bonds.

"Quit fighting like a fool and use your brains!"

Link pulled himself up, spitting out a bit of blood. He had barely heard Zelda's advice, but he was transfixed on one goal. Saving Zelda and being the hero.  
>He turned back to his foe, and stomped forward, his pride and his love were at steak, and neither of them were going to fall to this snide imposter. Link put his hands in front of him in a boxing position, and Shadow Link merely laughed with his inhuman mirth.<br>Aggravated, Link swung the first blow, with a strong left overhand, which his shadow casually dodged by leaning backwards. Link followed up with a spinning drop kick, using his punch's momentum to bring his right foot over his head and in a downward arc, intending to crush his dark counterpart's skull in. His foot smashed into where Dark was just standing, and a grey hand griped Link in the shoulder from behind and turned him around, so that he received the full force of the other ashy fist under his chin. Link stumbled backwards up the stairs and landed flat on his tailbone, he look up to see Zelda worried, helpless, and ashamed, and Link was instantly filled with failure and humiliation.

"I'm going to kill the shit outta you" Link growled, his face bright red and his large blue eyes glaring menacingly at his Shadow. Link jumped up and spun around on his heel and grabbed the sword stuck in the pedestal, drawing the Four Sword from its ritualistic place, and finished his turn, left arm wielding the legendary, HIS legendary, blade and the other reaching for the shield off his back.

"LINK, NO!" Zelda screamed, and snapped Link out of his pride stricken bloodlust. Shadow turned his head and threw out a dark and clawed hand toward the princess. With her focus smashed, Zelda was powerless to stop the flowing waves of darkness that filled and enveloped her crystalline casket. Link watched in horror as she floated away into the ever thickening darkness around the chamber, and then his gaze shifted to the now glowing sword he held in his hand.

"What have I done?" he asked himself, in the calm before the storm.

And what a storm.

A bright light enveloped link, sending pain searing through his body. His energy and life force were being divided evenly between the four he felt resurfacing inside his body. Link fell to the ground, unable to support himself any longer in his drained state, and he let out a final cry, then he ripped.

* * *

><p>He opened his eyes with his vision fluttering in and out of darkness; he saw a dark version of himself approach the fallen hero. Link lowered his head, strained by the effort to look up, and he felt a grip tighten under his chin. He was slowly lifted until he was face to face with his self, and he gazed into his own blood red eyes.<p>

_Are those really my eyes?_ He wondered, as the shadow of him stretched its mouth farther than any human mouth could stretch, and revealed a row of wicked teeth. Link couldn't even turn his head to look away, such a weak state he was in, but it didn't matter, since the tight and powerful hand lifting his chin turned his head towards his right.  
>Lying as feebly as Link was were now three more people, each slowly awakening just as Link had. All of them were wearing tunics with the same design as Link's, but each with varying color, and all had a sword and shield strapped on their backs. The three other boys slowly begun to stir, and before Link could examine any further, the ebony hand griping his chin continued turning his Link's gaze the overflowing pedestal.<p>

The Four Sword's pedestal had acted like a cork on a bottle of wine, wine made of pure malice and misanthropy; and when the contents were shaken, they would quickly come bubbling out once the cork was removed. Unlike the jovial spirit accompanying overflowing wine, Link felt an tremendous sense of doom after he saw the contents of the pedestal blasting out. First came a set of dark bat wings, on top of a bulbous shape, also black. Then emerged another wing from the right side of the circular center, and it shifted into a long, black claw, which shattered the ground around it as it rammed down to gain a hold. Link struggled slightly, trying to turn away, but Shadow just leaned over and whispered 'Shhhhh' into Link's ear, mocking affection, such a human trait for such an inhuman monster. The left side of the shape rose up and the bottom half slid out easily, floating into the air. The wind sorcerer Vaati opened his single eye located in the middle of his circular body, and it blinked twice, and looked around almost curiously at freedom.

Shadow smiled and laughed one last time for good measure and to draw attention, and dropped link down to the floor, running off as he did. Vaati turn his one red eye toward the source of the noise, and while he didn't see the shadow of link skipping away towards the portal, he did see the hero who had banished him into the cursed slab what felt like an eternity ago.

"YOU!" Vaati roared, a phrase more spoken through his actions than his non-existent mouth. The chamber filled with gale like winds as dirt and rocks flew about the sanctuary. Vaati had opened his dark maws and was releasing years of pent up hatred and rage, directed towards the 4 unconscious and doomed boys.

Link felt the winds pick up, and used every ounce of strength in his weakened body to look up and see a furious wind sorcerer with a sizeable tornado forming behind him. Link looked on in plain and simple disbelief as the rocks scattered about went sailed through the air.

"Well, fuc-" Link heard, till a sizeable rock made a solid connection with his head, knocking Link out cold and at a vengeful wind sorcerer's mercy.


	2. Chapter 1:1

RE-DRAWN  
>WHEREBOUTS OF THE WIND<p>

1-1

Link sat in the field, reflecting. About 5 minutes had passed since he had his flashback. He didn't look up, he feared that when he'd be surrounded by his alter egos, all impatiently waiting to drive him insane again. When he finally did look up, all he saw was a massive grey horned owl allotted atop the strange post sticking out of the ground.

When he stared into the owls eyes, they flipped upside down along with the rest of the owls head. The small dots above the 'eyes' opened up and revealed a glaring brown set of eyes that bore into link's soul. Link stiffened up and just stared at the owl, or did the owl stare at him? Just when link was about to break his gaze, the owls beak opened up and he heard a voice come from the owls position.

"So you're finally revived, good. I thought I was going to have to take your sword and save Hyrule myself."

Link about jumped out of his skin. He could have sworn he just heard that owl talk. "Excuse me?" Link uncertainly responded, he didn't think owls could talk; it was one of the few things he had yet to encounter on his adventures.

"Don't worry, talking owls are not possible," said the owl, reading his body's language "guiding manifestations of Nayru, such as myself are however very likely to give their advice. My name is Kaporea Gora, and I'm going to help you on your journey, however the Goddess sees most fitting." said the owl, as it was unmistakably the owl talking.

Link rubbed his hands against his eyes, blinking hard as he reopened them. He was still feeling weak from the soul splice upon drawing the sword, but this seemed a little ludicrous, even for a near death experience...

"I can tell when you're not listening, so I'll tell you what you must know and go. Maybe we could actually hold a discussion after you've gotten over your bewilderment."

"Wait a sec! I'm sorry, but I'm still a bit weakened from drawing the Four Sword, I'm still just recovering." Link explained apologetically.

"Expected. The Soul Splice splits the life force in your body into four separate shells, effectively bringing you to one fourth your nor-"

"I KNOW" Link stated, a little louder than intended. "I know" he said, calmer now "I have used this sword before, and I know of the soul splice. Why don't you know that if you're the spirit of wisdom?"

Kaporea flicked his head to the side at an alarmingly fast twitch "Wisdom and Knowledge are NOT the same thing. Knowledge is understanding everything about a specie of black Chu, Wisdom is knowing you should ALWAYS aim to avoid it." the 'owl' said somewhat irked. "Anyway, I thought you should know, Vaati sucked some of the power from the Four Sword during his imprisonment and scattered the pieces across the land. These fragments of sacred energy are called Force Gems." the owl put it's beak under its wing and pulled out a small, green, glowing triangular pyramid. Flicking it expertly with his beak, the Gem landed on Link's Four Sword and slid into the jade pommel of the blade like passing through a magical barrier, causing a slight ripple as it passed through, then solidifying back into an dark green gemstone.

Link looked at the spectacle of magic before him as Kaporea continued his introduction. "Collect these to try to return the Four Swords to its full title as Shadow's Bane. I'll be trying to keep up with you four, but until then, my charge is to lend aid across Hyrule where necessary." as he said this, the enormous owl shuffled its wings and prepared for flight.

"Kaporea! How long was I out?" Link asked nervously, fearing the answer he might here.

The owl turned its head completely around to face him, and with a dark grin playing across his beak as he replied mysteriously "Too long, Hero" and shot off into the sky with speed misleading for his girth.

Link stared as the owl rocketed off into distance, leaving a blue streak behind him. When he sat up, he dusted off his green tunic and found his floppy hat and placed it back on his head and looked around the field again. Nothing had changed, still the same old scenery, except he noticed the bushes he had seen earlier were rustling lightly.

"So did we fuck Zelda yet?" Link grimaced and turned around, rising from one of the bushes was himself.

The new Link looked exactly like the original, except he was wearing a red tunic and his hair was spikier and a bit wilder than Link's hairstyle. Aside from those physical differences, the two looked exactly alike. Their similarities were only skin deep by Link's reasoning though

Red Link drew the Sword from his back and held it in one hand, smiling deviously as he tested its weight again, refamiliarizing himself with the sword granting him manifestation. He suddenly slashed with it in a powerful sweep, and the bushes around him fell forward and formed a green carpet to cross. He walked up to Link and embraced him in an over energetic hug.

"I'm guessing no. So how's my lime loser doing?" Red joked as he roughly released Link from his bear hug. Link stumbled back a few feet and right before gaining balance, he tripped over and into another bush. He flailed his hands wildly and fell backwards into the bush.

"AUUHHGG! DEAR GODESSES!" wailed a voice from underneath our unbalanced hero. Link rolled out of the way just in time as a Four Sword with a sapphire pommel came jutting out off the bush and started harmlessly flapping from side to side. The flat edge of the blade slapped Link across the face, leaving a bright red mark. Speaking of bright red, Red was standing off to the side laughing at the chaos he created till he had to grip his sides to keep the mirth from knocking him over.

"For Farore's sake..." Link muttered with a sigh. He reached through the bushes and gripped the flailing hand. He tried to force the sword from the panicky wielder's hand, but both had equal strength and reached a standoff quickly.

Seeing his hiding spot was endangered, the blue figure jumped out of the bushes screaming wildly and he ran straight into a still laughing Red, bowling both to the ground.

"AH! SON OF A BITCH!" yelled Red angrily in a high pitch as a blue Link tackled him to the ground, knocking both the swords from their grasp. The two started to wrestle on the ground and Blue pulled the shield off his back to protect himself from the flurry of blows being delivered by an extremely agitated Red.

Link, still in the bush, reached out trying to grab a handhold in the green canopy filling his senses and his hand was griped by someone lending him help up. Link pulled himself up, expecting to see Blue, and was a little surprised when a Purple Link gazed down at him. "Why are you in a bush?" asked Purps in his inquisitive yet deep and jovial voice.

"When did you get here?" Link responded. The magenta clone just smiled and turned to the brawl that was ensuing. Red was sitting on top of Blue and was pummeling his shield while angrily yelling curses in an agitated higher pitch. Blue just sat huddled behind his defense, calling for Red to stop in his deep panicky voice. Link decided to end this and went up and tried to pull Red off, who just turned and adjusted his assault towards Link while Blue scurried out from underneath Red. Link held out his arm to block the aggressive assault and shoved Red backwards, knocking him over. Red fell with a hurricane of vulgarities and started to get back up. Purple went to go and calm him down, and Blue walked next to Link cautiously to keep him from diving right back into combat, but also to protect himself from Red. Blue was lousy at close quarters.

"I'm fine" Red spat out, then pulled himself up on Purple's ever present hand. He looked angrily at Blue, spitting off into the bush Blue had hid in and then trudged off to locate his sword, calming down slightly. Link did the same also, (without the rude gestures) though he needed a LOT more willpower to calm himself down. He already felt stressed enough with last nights events.

_Just like old times_ Link thought wearily.

* * *

><p>When everyone got their selves together, Link reviewed their party again. Blue was walking around the tree line and peering between the branches. Red link drew his sword and practiced a bit, placing the shield on his back. Purple link sat on a rock, looking around the field curiously. He spat out a piece of grass in his mouth and spoke "Can you tell us how we got here?"<p>

Blue walked back from the far side of the field, "Good question, what went wrong? I thought we sealed Vaati in that rock and locked this sword around him." he said drawing the Four Sword inexpertly from his sheath. The violet doppelganger got up and stepped back from the armed Blue, a look of worry crossing his face. Link turned and briefly explained the situation.

"Zelda and the maidens got kidnapped, Vaati broke loose, and the Four Sword got weakened, so keep an eye out for these Force Gem things, they're supposed to help." he explained shortly "by the way, are we still going by our old names?"

Red's ruby Four Sword landed pommel up in the ground in between Link's legs, causing Link to jump back in surprise. Red walked over laughing. "No, Link, after half a year of arguing, I decided that _I_want to be Link now, and we'll call the blue kid Dennis." he said sarcastically, grabbing his sword from it's spot in the floor. "Same as always, we stay color coded except for you, Mr. Hero."

"Hey, hold on a second" said Blue "One: your leaving something out, the maidens couldn't have screwed up Vaati's seal, there supposed to be experts at sealing greater evils, right? Someone else must have tampered with his seal. and-" At this point, Red interjected "Two: why are we still waiting around? We've gotta go save the maidens, Vaati's gonna get his ass kicked again."

Blue looked angrily at Red for stopping him. Red caught the look and feigned an apology. "Oh _I'm_ sorry, were you going to say something _important_?"

Blue huffed, "I was gonna say we should team up with the Hylian guard and get some real weapons. We all know how useless I am with this thing." he lifted up the Sapphire Four Sword to emphasis his point, and Red and Link cautiously backed away.

"Nope, we can't go to the guard" said Purple, strapping the Four Sword's sheath exactly the opposite of his companions, with the amethyst hilt pointing towards the ground on the right side. "Zelda and Link were last seen in the Four Swords Sanctuary, and then the next thing the guards see is Vaati flying out of the sanctuary with maidens in tow and a Black Link waltzes passed them. So the first thing they think must be 'look at that, Link released Vaati, now he's escaping!" then we become Hyrule's most wanted, so no."

There was silence in the meadow and all the heroes just stared at Purple in disbelief. The first person to say anything was Link. "How the hell did you know about shadow?" He yelled. Purple waves across the meadow and everyone followed his gaze.

Shadow Link stood in the field, staring at them smiling and unarmed. He looked terrifyingly out of place in the bright and sunny field. There were birds, flowers and green grass sitting around the horrible monstrosity obliviously, adding a tranquil feel all around the _thing's_dark purpose. Surprisingly, he waved back to Purps and then let off his horrible wailing laugh that set all the Link's nerves on edge.

Link rushed forward yelling with his sword drawn, and Red ran after him, laughing manically and excited for the thrill of combat. The two rushed down the path in hot pursuit of the evil Shadow, eventually turning a bend and rushing out of sight.

Blue turned to Purple and shrugged his shoulders helplessly. The two started walking after the blood-thirsty duo, Purps out of apathy, Blue out of uselessness. As they started walking, Blue felt a gaze boring into his head, and he turned to see Purps looking curiously at him. Blue started nervously scraping at his head and whimpered a little, only to knock off his floppy blue hat, to which he heard Purps chuckle and keep walking, not as rudely as Red, but it still annoyed Blue to some extent. He bent over to pick up his hat, and saw a green glowing triangle next to it. He stared for awhile curiously, and then looked up to see that Purple had kept walking. Blue pocketed the small object and started to walk after Purps, purposely keeping his distance from the odd-ball out.

* * *

><p>With the Shadow slaying duo charging in pursiut, the beast turned down the path leading out of the field. Red and Link continued their charge forward and passed a house with a group of four people running around out back. Quickly outpaced by Shadow, they picked up their pace to try and catch up, but then the two slowed down a little further down the path. Shadow was standing on the far end of a bridge, with a painted bomb sporting a skull and bones design in his hand. He chuckled monstrously and rolled the sizzling bomb down the wooden old bridge. The explosive went off with much more power than it seemed possible, causing the entire structure to shatter and the debris to fall flaming into the water below. The blast knocked the pursuers off their feet, and they sat up and both their jaws dropped at seeing the destruction caused by the small projectile.<p>

"I want one of those!" said Red with his mouth agape. Link glared at Red, and they both got up and turned around to collect Purps and Blue.

Link backtracked along the path with his Red doppelganger, pondering to himself. From his last adventures, Red had always been aggressive and brash, but never this violent towards Blue and Link. Last time around, Red got along decently with himselfs, not the best companion, but still... he seemed more proud this time. Blue hadn't changed much, he was still as jumpy and scared as always, but a bit less helpful now, but Link could have just been early to judge. He wasn't sure. Something just seemed different about all of them. Link just didn't know what or why.

"Hey, what gives? You've just been zoned out for like a minute!" said Red.

Link blinked hard, jumping back into reality. "Sorry, I was just thinking to myself. Were you saying something?"

Red glared. "I was asking what we would do for our weapons. Do you still have my stuff back at your house?"

"You think we could get there with the Hylian army searching for us? That's the first place they'd... look... for us..." Link said, trailing off.

Red waved a hand in front of Links vacant expression, then turned to see the object of interest. The scene in front of him was a strange one. They were right next to the house they had barreled past, and there was an old man out front, with four young girls peering over the low gate that kept them in the back yard. The old man had his cane in hand and was assaulting Purps with it. The elderly person was screaming incoherently, and Purps was blocking with his shield while screaming "He's not me!"

Blue was trying to stay out of the way of the old man, and he started looking for some way to help out his violet counterpart. Blue turned, and he saw Red and Link standing with jaws hung low. "OVER HERE!" screamed Blue, loud enough for the old man to turn his attention from Purps.

Purps took this advantage and shoved the cane upwards with his shield while he reached back with his right hand, grabbing his sword. Wielding it underhanded, he pulled the blade out and spun it upward in an ark, catching the old man's staff and slicing it neatly in two, with one half still in his hand. Continuing his motion, Purps raised his left hand with shield equipped and batted the falling stick out of the way and brought his sword up again, this time stopping it inches from the old man's throat, both with a serious look in both the threatened man and the young swordsman's stare. The girls in the backyard squealed in terror and the 3 Links off to the side rushed forward full of worry, except for Red who was cheering on Purps.

"No!" screamed Link. All eyes shot to him.

Recognition crossed the man's face. "Oh" sighed the old man, his hard gaze softening to a calm and more elderly expression. He lowered his half a cane and pushed the Four Sword off his neck. "I'm sorry Hero" he said, then turned to the Purple Link and said "please forgive me, I was very rude" he bowed deeply to a confused Purple. He then turned to the entire company of one. "I have a lot of explaining to do, please come in and make yourselves feel comfy."

The entire group looked slightly frozen till Purps broke the silence "Forgiven" he declared with a mock seriousness that echoed the deadly conviction he just had. He took a step back and returned the bow, put up his sword and shield and grabbed a dumbfounded Link and dragged him after the old man into the house. Blue turned to Red and shrugged, and Red gave Blue a push to the shoulder roughly and said "Lend a hand next time, will ya?"

Blue staggered back a step, then looked after as Red walked into the house. "With what?" he yelled after Red, then followed into the house behind the rest.

The house's interior was quite scare. The floor was planked with rough wood that was slightly cracking and much worn, and the four chairs Blue saw resting in the corner were obviously for the girls out back, presumably the elder man's grand-daughters. He saw Purps and Link sitting down on the floor in front of the table that the old fellow was sitting at, and Red was casually leaning on the far wall, stretching and yawning loudly. Blue pulled up on of the chairs and leaned back, but jumped a little as the floor creaked when the four girls walked inside, attempting to be sneaky. The old man looked sharply towards them and snapped "Continue practicing, we'll be out in a few minutes!" he saw Red silently mouth the words _we? _towards the group with an incredulous look on his face, in disbelief that the group would be staying any longer than it took to hear an explanation for the old man's assault. Blue noticed Link giving Red a sharp glare and Purps started giggling, apparently having caught the look himself. Link turned to Purps with a scowl on his face, but shifted his attention back around as the old man cleared his throat loudly, as if he where teaching some kind of class.

He looked down to Purps, who was lying on the floor nonchalantly, and begun "I'm terribly sorry for attacking you, you see, there was a boy who looked just like you, except he was wearing dark clothing. He ran through here about a day ago before you all entered. He simply destroyed everything that was in here, food, beds, didn't matter to the monster. But when I saw the two of you, I thought the beast had returned with reinforcements, but disguised themselves so I would be caught unaware. I must have jumped to quite the wrong conclusion and attacked, please for give me, life's been very hard for this poor old family, a few years ago there was..."

Red scoffed silently to himself and rolled his eyes, luckily the hospitable old fellow didn't catch his look. His thoughts started to wander as he looked around the plain room. There were clearly a few signs of a struggle, scratches across the floors, a few cracks and pieces missing from the wall, even one of the legs of the table the old coot was lecturing behind was gone, propped up by a decent sized rock. He had to hand it to the old man, if what he said was true, he had held of that shadow beast all on his own, unless his grand daughters had helped. He chuckled a little to himself at the thought of those little girls tackling a Black Link to the ground and punching him repeatedly, the image playing neatly through his head. He could tell the old man was starting to bring his speech to a close, so Red tuned back into the one sided conversation.

Once the old man finished all of his lamenting, he said to Link "Listen Hero, I used to be in the Hyrule royal guard, maybe I could lend you a few pointers on working in groups. I'm sure you know most of this already, but I think me and my granddaughters could run you through a few drills very quickly, we might be able to teach you something new! What do you say?"

All eyes were on the Hero, and he looked over to see the girls in the back peering inside hopefully, they looked like they were only 6 years old. Link loomed over at his group and saw Red shaking his head and making slashing motions with hand, his eyes big as dinner plates, unlike his pupils. Blue was glancing around anxiously, clearly not looking forward to using his sword, while Purps was zoned out staring off into space, deep in thought.

"What kind of drills are you talking about?" he inquired hesitantly.

* * *

><p>The four girls were lined up opposite of the Four Sword Heroes, and they seemed tired, but were willing to put up with it for a chance to show off to their idol. Purps looked over to Red who was fuming a bit louder than silently, annoyed at their small side task, and Purps had to agree. They had been practicing these formations for about ten minutes now, and they were all tired, but not from the 'training'. The old man had just finished running them through some standard formations. Purps sighed, he wanted to get on the road again, back to the adventure, he chuckled, <em>maybe Red's rubbing off on me<em>...

Purps smiled to himself, it was Red who had him the nickname 'Purps'. He decided it was easier to say then Purple and sounded less girly than Vio or Violet. The two had always gotten along well, usually hanging around each other more than the other two. Purps didn't know why, there was just some level of cooperation the two had that was only achieved with their combined skill, with Purps providing backup for the strong and talented berserker.

"CROSS!"

Purps turned instinctively to the left, starting to slide backwards. They knew this one also, and it felt pointless to keep practicing really. Red, being on the far right, took a step up, and Link filled in his position next to him, Blue was far left, and he ran straight at Purps to roll under him as Purps hurdled him to reach his position at Link's back. They all leaned backwards to tighten the diamond they had made. The old man whistled lowly, clearly impressed but then smiled wryly as he decided to mix things up a bit.

"SPIN!"

"Huh?" said Blue. He saw his partners drawing their swords and he followed along, but very uncertainly. Purps noticed the confusion in blue and leaned over quickly "hold B" he said, only adding to Blue's confusion. The three locked elbows and blue joined in, catching on to their plan. The four of them held out their swords at arms length, away from the cluster, and started to run in a circle. If there had been targets nearby, they would have been hacked away by the group's flurry of steel. After one cycle, they all broke off from their deadly rotation. Continuing his motion, Blue dived forward, rolling just before he slammed into the packed dirt and came sliding to a halt. He was breathing slightly heavier than usual, and smiled. He could see where Red got the thrill of combat from just by practicing.

Link looked over to the old man, who was grinning madly. "Thank you for the refresher course, but we've really got to be going now" he said, to the obvious dismay of the girls, who had been following their training with matched speed and purpose.

The old man smiled, "So sorry, I thought I could lend a hand, and I think I still may be able to. Take some of these, thy might be helpful." he said, handing link four purple pyramids, just big enough to fit in his palm. "These all started showing up about a week ago, we've found them across all of Hyrule, and people have started to trade them in for rupees. You should be able to buy some supplies with them."

Link looked at the object, and he remembered what the owl had said. He pushed the gem into his sword's emerald pommel, amazed as it fazed in with ease as the pommel seemed to bend to allow the strange gem inside the sacred blade. It was like watching someone slowly slide into a still lake of tar. After the gem was completely emerged, the pommel returned to its emerald nature, hard and unyielding as an earth made mineral should be.

The old man was at first baffled by this display of magical power, but then he seemed to become amused. Purps looked to the old man, growing worried about his rising hysteria. What started as light chuckling escalated into a booming laughter that could be felt vibrating through the ground. All looked at him with expressions of confusion, or in Blue's case, fear.

"what the hell was THAT!" yelled Red. The old man was laughing to much to be offended, but when he settled down, he snickered to the group of Heroes

"those gems are... Hahaha, that's about 50 rupees you just put in that sword boy! Hehehehe, who woulda thought, the legendary blade ran on money!" laughed the old man, still in hysterics. Link found the fact less amusing. This would make their travels much harder with their money being used to power their swords. They would need to hunt for their food and he had no idea how they would get their supplies. He noticed from Red's face that he had figured a less than legal method of stocking up.

"Well, it's been nice meeting you sir, but we've really got to get going" said Blue, walking past and taking a Force gem of his own from Link while heading towards the door. The old man stopped him by placing his hand upon Blue's shoulder, turning serious to give his final parting advice. "Heroes, from what I've seen this past week, the guards haven't been normal lately. There's something strange going on, and if the four of you are here, I know it won't be long till everything is fixed, I'll do what I can to help, and spread the word you have arrived to-"

"Don't" Blue interrupted, nudging the old man's hand of his shoulder. "We need to be quite and try hiding throughout our mission. If the guards are after us, Link's shadow causes more chaos, or the lies spread about us kidnapping the maidens are heard by anyone, we'll be welcomed with armed guards, possessed or not, in the next village if they know were coming."

Purps walked by Link, taking his gem as well, and giving his thoughts "If you do want to alert people of our comings, do it quietly and without the guard involved, we don't want to attract too much attention. Corrupt or not, I never trusted them too much."

Red followed in suit with his group, powering his sword with the Force gem and concluding the group's chain of thoughts. "Even if they do try and catch us, we'll just cut em all down, we can handle whatever is thrown at us!"

The ex-guard cringed at Red's statement. "I'm not entirely sure of how possession magic works, but I would work under the assumption that all the guards are still people with families and loved ones, just to be sure. Please, don't resort to violence unless absolutely necessary, I know some of these people, and none of them deserve to die." Link felt sympathy for the man, and gave him a reassuring pat on the back.

"We'll try not to do anything drastic until we Know what were up against" he lied. He didn't want to scare the old fellow by telling him of the cycloptic abomination he had released, but he was still partially telling the truth, as he had no idea what type of fowl magic spawned Shadow, they really only knew about Vaati.

The group left the hut, saying their goodbyes to the waving group of girls and the Hylian ex-guard. Once they were out of earshot, Red said to Link. "We're not really gonna do that pacifism shit with the guards, are we?" he ask incredulously. Blue and Link had been discussing supplies they would need, and Link turned around, walking backwards to face Red.

"I'm not sure since we still haven't actually seen any of the guards. They could be free willed and hunting for us, like Purps suggested," He motioned towards Purps, who smiled and nodded happily "they could be under mental control, but that wouldn't justify slaughtering them all either. I think we'll just have to wait until we see the Hylian war force and decide what's wrong with them ourselves, maybe if we stumbled across a scouting group we could capture and interrogate them."

Red smiled mischievously "I like that idea" he said with an unhealthy amount of glee in his voice. Link turned back around, and halted in his tracks. Purps walked into his back, causing both to stumble forward.

"Hey! What's the hold up?" said Purps, aggravated to be jarred from his thoughts.

"We've got a small problem." he said flatly, looking over the wreckage of the only way across the water filled ridge that Shadow had destroyed.


	3. Chapter 1:1 PRT 2

Chapter 1-1 (part two)

Link held tightly onto what was left of the post with one hand, his other was holding onto Blue's wrist, which was dangling over the edge of the ravine. Blue was being stretched between Link and his post and an even lower Purps who was reaching out to grab Red's hand. Red leaped out of the water and grabbed onto Purps' hand but he slipped and fell back on his backside in the surprisingly shallow water.

"DIN DAMMIT!" he yelled upon splashing to the floor again, landing on a rock and bruising his tailbone. He strainfully pulled himself off the ground, picking up his soggy red hat and wringing the water out from it. He looked up the rock wall again and saw Purps wiping his right hand on his sleeve, drying it off and then offering it out again. Red steeled himself for another run up and sprinted forward, jumping off a medium sized rock and onto the wall. His boots scraped the slippery side as he quickly tried gaining footing, and his heel found a sturdy stone sticking out of the wall. He kicked off the wall and leaped up with his arm outstretched, and just as he started to tumble back down, Purps leaned out and gripped his forearm. Red returned the hold, and Purps yelled over his shoulder "GOT HIM!"

The dangling company started to slowly move upwards, with Link trudging his weight thrice over backwards as Blue awkwardly shuffled up the wall with both his hands occupied. Purps started shuffling like Blue, with Red half climbing, half being dragged up the rocky wall.

As Red rolled over the lip of the ravine he exhaustedly flopped onto the ground next to the other heroes. Link grudgingly sat up and propped himself up against a huge boulder nearby.

"So now that we know we can't jump the gap, any other brilliant ideas?" asked Blue from his place on the floor, massaging his aching shoulders. Red snarled at him and threw a nearby rock, which Blue easily avoided "Watch your damn mouth, I don't see you helping."

Purps couldn't help but grin "Without saying anything, I thought you just went suicidal." He said, walking over to sit next to Link. Red sat himself down next to him with his back to the rock.

"Well at least I'm trying _something_." Red said defensively. He looked at the charred wreckage of what was left of the bridge. What little the bomb hadn't destroyed was weakened and blackened, still smoldering in some areas. The slow current of the water in the ravine had washed most of the big chunks downstream, but a beam was still laying awkwardly against the wall here and there. Red thought hard about what they could do, staring in deep thought at the broken path in front of them. Blue walk in front of his field of vision, and Red flailed his hands angrily towards Blue, indicating he should hurriedly move. He walked over to where Link was resting and also sat down. When he added his own weight to the boulder, all four of them noticed that it shifted backwards about a foot, causing them to roll onto their backs.

Red yelled over to Blue "Nice going, _fat ass_!" but Blue just absently responded "Thanks." and walked behind the boulder, an idea forming in his mind.

Purps caught on to the idea quickly. "Let's make a bridge." he said, tugging on Red's tunic and pulling him behind the rock. Link let out a rarely seen smile. _We can actually get a lot done when were not fighting each other _he mused.

He heard a scream from Blue from behind the rock, and Link rolled his eyes. _Like_ THAT _will ever happen _he thought, the smile leaving his lips. Link turned the corner and saw Red and Blue bickering, with Red's fists beginning to clench and Blue already reaching for his shield by instinct. "SHUT UP!" yelled Link, and the two stopped fighting briefly to turn to Link.

"What's this about?" demanded Link. Red flicked something off his shoulder, scoffing in a peeved manner "I don't have to explain to YOU." he said smugly. Link looked over to Blue, expecting more cooperation, "He wouldn't push when I said." Blue replied innocently, Link cocked an eyebrow in an unimpressed and doubtful manner, and then broke the silence that had followed Blue's statement.

"Fine, I'll count it off, on the count of-"

"ONE!"

They turned to see Purps already giving the countdown, and he was already trying to push the rock towards the gap. Red rushed over to join him and Link followed along grudgingly, at least they were co-operating.

"TWO!"

Blue scuttled over into the open spot on the far edge by Link, he set himself up to push the boulder forward...

"THREE!"

All four Links pushed with all their might, and the boulder slid toward the wrecked structure. The Team of One kept straining forward, and slowly the rock crunched over any remaining timber in it's way, when it reached the bridge's edge, every member gave the stone a final and mighty shove and then let gravity run it's course. The boulder tumbled over the lip, crushing the remaining lumber under its massive girth, crunching through sturdy beams like toothpicks. It hit the stream below with a thunderous crash, spraying the cheering group with water.

Blue was laughing gleefully at their success, their makeshift bridge was big enough to cross with just a small hop on their side, he looked over and saw Red and Purps giving each other a leaping hi-five and even Link was smiling. Blue hopped across the bridge and was the first to land on the other side, and he walked a little over to the left to see where the other trickle of water's source was.

As Link skipped across the gap, he walked over to a small hole he had seen while on the far side of the ditch. It was in the side of a hill, with a small bush growing in front of it, and he scraped those aside and walked in alone, making sure the group didn't follow. They could get Link very irked very quickly, and solitude was necessary to relax a bit.

As he entered, two keese flew out at him, aggressively defending their territory. Link drew his sword instinctively and attacked, twirling around with a swordsman's grace as he dodged the first keese that assaulted him, and he sliced through the second one behind it. He grinned grimly as the large bat fell about him neatly in two pieces, and twirled around to face the other bat. As the second bat saw its cave-mate chopped in half, it flew off into one of the small tunnels in the cave, just the right size for a creature of its size.

Link wiped off the keese's blood off his blade and on its severed corpse. He felt no guilt in killing the small monster, as he knew how dangerous they could be. To an armed warrior, they were mere annoyances, but to an unsuspecting civilian, they could be severe threats when caught off-guard. Link had heard countless stories of kids wandering off and being attacked by the monstrous bats, most had a parent come to their rescue before something terrible could happen, but he had come across a few bones of unlucky people in a few of the caves he had ventured into. Hyrule was a dangerous place to the weak, but that's why people like him were around.

He looked through out the cave again, searching for anything of value, and his trained eyes immediately found something. One of the holes in the ceiling was allowing light to shine through and illuminate the side of a pedestal. Link walked forward to retrieve his prize. Rumors of treasures like these were what tempted unprepared travelers to venture into the more dangerous places in the Golden Kingdom. He reached out and grabbed a handle to some device, pulling into a ray of light. He smiled.

_Perfect_

* * *

><p>Blue peered over the edge of the ravine, looking for Link or his traditional green hat. Seeing nothing, he grew more worried. Link had only been gone for a minute, but the group still had to move along. They evidently couldn't move forward anymore without Link around, being the only one of them people seemed to recognize as the hero. Apparently some details were left untold to the general public about the Four Sword, like its origins and nature. When the sword was drawn, it would split the wielder's personality into three separate parts, each being greatly exaggerated, but never a set selection. The Four Sword would choose three different traits of the drawer's personality, each set varying of with the wielder. The original design was to destroy Vaati after it was infused with elemental powers, which now lay too dormant to tap into, but the sword would also work as a test of character. Eventually, people took the sword just to 'get in touch' with their romantic side, so the sword was hidden away.<p>

Link didn't seem to have one of those, joked Blue to himself, as none of them seemed to be sex depraved maniacs. Blue, Purps and Red had all know of the swords purpose and design, but they had to keep it a secret from Link, who apparently didn't know the blades secrets either. _It's not a real test if the person knows their taking it anyway_ thought Blue.

He heard a rustling from behind and saw Link stepping out of a bush in the hill's side. With a boomerang tucked into his belt and Blue let out a sigh of relief. He walked up to Link casually, "Find anymore of those in that cave?" he asked, indicating to the boomerang.

Link shook his head "Where's Red and Purps?" he asked.

"They went a little ahead to scout out the area." said Blue. As if on cue, Purps tumbled in from around the corner, a look of urgency on his face. He quickly caught his breath and looked up to Blue and Link

"We found Shadow."

* * *

><p>As the three rounded the corner, they saw another house, and also Red fighting a pack of octoroks. There was another ravine just to the left of the house, and to the house's right was a thick tree-line with Shadow sitting behind a sturdy looking fence, trees at his back. He was laughing with his demonic wail at Red as he fought tooth and nail with the octoroks.<p>

Red rolled to his right, dodging one projectile fired from one of the ugly quadrupeds. He heard another spitting noise from behind him, and used the reflection from his sword to briefly check the trajectory of its shot. He charged forward at the slimy beast in front of him, grinning as he felt the excretion from the monster behind him shatter against his shield he kept placed on his back. He bounded of a rock and leaped above the monster that was now just below him and turned his blade around for a powerful downward stab. Red saw the fear in the monsters eyes as it tried to propel another 'homemade' ballistic from its snout, but it simply didn't have the time. Red's blade plunged into the beast, entering from the top and leaving straight out of its underside, dark blood oozing from the fatal wounds delivered to it by the skilled swordsman. He brought his octorok-kebab up just in time to bash aside another blast of compacted waste from the third octorok, and then he shook the fallen monster off of his sword.

He prepared to charge the new challenger, but was knocked over by the powerful projectile that slammed him across the side of his head. He went down swearing, dazed as he sat up to turn to the sneaky beast, who was preparing a second shot to knock the red fighter unconscious so it could eat him without a struggle. Red stood up angrily, surprising the vicious monster with his impressive display of stamina, most humans his size went down with one blow. Red risked a quick glance to the third octorok and saw Purps sneaking up on the beast. Red turned his attention back to the present matter at hand, and barely avoided a second blast of waste aimed for his head.

"Sneaky little shit, aren't we?" he asked, bending over to pick up a heavy stone. He walked forward with the stone over his head, and when he saw the octorok inhale sharply to fire again he threw the rock into its open snout. With the weaponized waste lodged in its throat and the rock blocking its only passage of breathing, the monster started to choke, and Red casually walked up and picked up the struggling and slimy beast, holding it like a ball. He turned towards the ravine and punted the creature into the stream, watching it try to squeal as it sailed away downstream, slowly sinking thanks to the heavy rock in its mouth. He smirked darkly at his handiwork and just as he turned to meet his group, he was clobbered to the ground by a flying Shadow who had chosen Red as his landing spot.

* * *

><p>Link yelled in frustration, as he and Blue had tried to sneak up on Shadow while he was distracted with the show Red was putting on, Shadow did a front flip over the fence they had slipped through right before the two could catch him off guard. He was cackling and waving to them as he did and squashed Red, laughing horribly as he knocked Red face first into the dirt. Red rolled over slashing and swearing, and Shadow preformed another back flip back to his original perch and Link saw his chance.<p>

He pulled the boomerang on his belt off and threw it at the Antihero in one fluid and practiced motion, drawing his sword as he did. The boomerang slammed into the Shadow's skull and Link saw him loosen up, knocked out of his senses as he sailed through the air right towards Link's eager blade. Shadow landed chest first onto the Four Sword's cold steel, dying almost instantly, but still plunging forward with his momentum, ripping Link's sword from his grasp. Shadow let of an unearthly wail that pierced the heavens with its shrill agony as he slammed heavily into the ground, devoid of whatever traces of dark magic gave him life. The creature of shadow dripped away into the ground, fading away into the shadow of the trees, leaving behind Link's blade and a sizeable green force gem. Link stood triumphantly over the pile of rocks and was about to go retrieve his sword when his boomerang slammed into the back of his head, knocking him face-first off the stone heap. He landed heavily on his upper torso right next to his sword. _Where did that come from?_He thought angrily, adrenaline still flowing through his veins. He looked over to Red and pointed an accusing finger towards him.

"What the HELL was that for!" he screamed, demanding an answer, Red gave him a confused look.

"I didn't do a thing man, but nice job with Shadow there." he said, sincere admiration in his voice as he cleaned his blade on the grass. Link looked at the boomerang again. He picked it up and hurled it both angrily and experimentally at a tree trunk, expecting it to smash into the bark and fall back to the ground. Instead it smashed into the bark and started to return to a surprised Link as though it had missed its target. He caught it with his sharpened reflexes and stared at the jewel encrusted weapon. Had he had found a weapon the not only resembled his old boomerang, but also held magical properties like his old one he used last adventure? It was almost too good to be true.

He stowed his projectile and walked over and picked up his sword, and jammed his pommel into the large green Force Gem, which shattered into hundreds of pieces that were sucked up into the emerald that split them like a small vortex was sucking them in.

"Hey! Were supposed to split that!" said Blue, a little saddened that he didn't even get a single Force Gem into his sword. Link shrugged and walked towards the house.

"Did you help kill him?" asked Link. Blue crossed his arms and stamped after him.

"Awww, that's not a fair question! You know I can't use this sword!" he huffed.

Link gestured towards Purps. "He didn't."

Blue turned, and saw Purps sitting on slime coated and slightly bloody rock with a bruised and bludgeoned octorok nearby, smiling happily over his kill. Blue chuckled a bit in spite himself, Purps could be a bit of a wildcard.

As he approached the house, Link tried to open the door but found it locked. He knocked on the door three times in quick succession and waited a bit, and then he heard something heavy and fragile shatter against the door.

"Get out of here you abomination!" the four heard from the other side of the door. They looked at each other and Purps yelled back through the door

"If your talking about a shadowy, dark figure who died a second ago, it isn't us." there was a brief silence, then a strong rattling that made all the Links jump from it's suddenness.

"Let me out! PLEASE LET ME OUT!" yelled an ecstatic voice from the other side of the door. Link look confused, and Purps yelled "Let us in!" back through the door. The slamming and rattling on the far side stopped.

"I'd love to let you in Sir, but I was locked in for not co-operating, could you please open the door? That beast should have been carrying the key."

Link looked over near the rock pile where Shadow had died and saw nothing. He turned back to the door and saw Red working the lock with a key he had come across somehow. Link gave him a questioning glance and Red responded without looking "Grabbed it off Shadow when he tackled me."

Link nodded and heard a click, and Red grinned, but before his hand could even reach the knob, the door flung open and smacked Link in the face and knocked him off his feet and into a bush behind the door. An old and short lady came rushing outside and embraced Red in a huge hug around his waist, or her head height.

"THANKYOUTHANKYOUTHANKYOU" The look of confusion and terror that was on Red's face was priceless.

Link sat up rubbing his face and walked around the door, "Don't mention it" he said sarcastically.

The woman unburied her head from the folds of Red's tunic to see who here saviors were and once she saw four faces that were the same as her deceased captor, she screamed and ran back inside, slamming the door behind her. The Heroes on the doorstep stares at the door with expressions of bafflement and one by one turned to walk away, starting with Blue, then followed by Link. Red looked over to see Purps biting back a smile at Red, barely holding back a fountain of laughter. Red jokingly pushed him away "Never bring this up again." he said. Purps burst out laughing and as they started to walk off, the door behind them opened.

A young boy wearing a red cap stuck his head out from around the door frame, causing all of the Links to turn. The boy, who couldn't have been older than 11, said cautiously "...Link? NO WAY! Come in guys! I've gotta give you something." and flung the door open as he retreated indoors.

Purps skipped right in through the doorway, and Blue followed directly behind him, a bit more cautious through. Red stopped Link before he could get in and asked "Are we gonna barge into every random house we see?" Link walked past him and indoors while trying not to notice Red's vulgar protests.

* * *

><p>This house was much darker on the inside, and the boy walked into the second doorway that was letting the only source of a greenish light into the back of what looked like a kitchen. Purps entered and saw the old lady huddled in the corner and looking away from either door. Purps hurried across the dark room stealthily to avoid detection and he arrived in a heavily wooded area behind the house. The trees here looked almost like they had grown around the house to form a small clearing and fence. The boy was standing next to a large rock, smaller than their 'bridge', but still easily considered a boulder. Red made his entry, and the boy spoke up, "Sorry 'bout my grandma, she's been worried sick without dad around. He left to get to Hyrule castle about a week ago and isn't back yet, then yesterday that shadow guy walks in and locks us up in our own house, she's been having a rough time, y'know?" said the naive little kid.<p>

"Ignorance must be bliss, eh?" whispered Red to Purps who giggled at the rude statement, and Link frowned. If they hadn't spent their childhood with Zelda, they... actually only Link could have ended up like the kid, blissfully protected by their family... _If I had one_. Red, Blue, and Purps wouldn't have appeared, and Link would be normal, just a kid entering his 17th year in life alone. It worried Link. What set him apart from any other boy in Hyrule? Why was _HE _the chosen Hero out of everyone? What made him special?

Link leaned back near the door and watched them, a little curious where Blue was. Purps and Red snickered and followed the boy over to a rock, where the kid proudly pointed "When the shadowy kid showed up, my grandma gave me the family's secret weapon and told me to hide it back here, and that's what I did! I'm really good at hiding things, so if the guy got in he couldn't take our stuff! You guys can use it though, since you four are like the coolest Heroes Hyrule has ever had!" At the mention of a secret weapon, Red unconsciously perked up. _The_ _kid's gotta be jokin, there's probably nothing useful to us that can hide under a rock_ He thought, but still investigated for his own amusement.

When he and Purps approached the rock, they each grabbed on to one side and pulled upwards, flipping it over. Purps noticed the rock shattered and assumed it was made of clay or some weak mineral and made a small note of that as Red bent over to collect his prize. Red had been expecting a bottle or a sword, or some other useless implement, but he reached over and pulled out a weapon he though he would never see again.

The rod had a steely blue base at its bottom that balanced the device evenly. At the top was a red glowing jewel that was hot to the touch, and rested on the strangely chilled blue metal that cooled down the Fire Rod's searing power source. The shaft of the magical blowtorch was made of a dark red wood that looked like it had seen more years than the Goddesses themselves. Red held it up over his head to examine it in the dim green light flitting through the canopy above to see if this was just some illusion, scarcely believing his luck.

This was a fire rod, maybe even... He flipped the rod over to stare at the shaft again. He gasped when he saw the same deep gouge in the aged wood that was delivered to him by a moblin last adventure; he had tried blocking with the fire rod while his sword hand was occupied. Link berated him for using a stupid move that could have ended in disaster for weeks; the mark couldn't have been replicated.

This was Red's fire rod.

He looked over at the boy with a calm and misleadingly collected voice. "Where did you get your 'family' weapon, kid?"

The boy proudly boasted forth without noting either Red approaching or Purps getting very worried, Link shifted his weight into a more ready position should he need to intervene and tensed his muscles. "My dad brought it home from work one day, he said we would have to watch over it for awhile while -"

Purps intervened and held up a hand to stop Red and the boy, "Where's your dad work?" he asked.

The boy looked over confusedly. "He's in the Hylian army, but I haven't seen him at all in the past week, it's just me and my grandma. He usually has to work late, but there's supposed to be a big crisis, so he's been extra busy."

Link scratched his chin thoughtfully, "alright kid, thanks" he said. He looked towards the group. "Lets go, we've got lots to discuss."

* * *

><p>They all got up and walked out of the house and waited by a cluster of tree stumps by another large rock near the ravine. Blue was waiting there for them while resting on a tree stump. Link looked at him curiously. "Where'd you go?" he asked.<p>

Blue answered without moving "I scouted around a bit to try and find a way over" he opened his eyes and got up. "Find anything useful or bow-like in there?"

Red smiled wickedly and flashed his enchanted flamethrower. "Guess what I found?" Blue's eyes bulged a bit looking at the rare weapon with wonder and amazement and some nostalgic fear. "Where'd you get that?"

Purps laughed to himself, "Under a rock".

Blue gave him a skeptical look. "It's true actually." Link added. Blue looked back over at the logs behind him "I couldn't find a bridge, but there's a rock in here, but we can't get a good grip with all these stumps in the way, but I thin- WHOA!"

Everyone jumped away from the searing flames which leaped from the fire rod and began licking at the soaked stumps and hissing as the water in the stumps evaporated. Red was blasting the stumps with a concentrated wave of flames that forced everyone to squint at the blistering inferno. After he felt the fires remaining could finish the job, Red stopped the flow of magical fire and smiled at his handiwork

"Get your grip now, Blue" he added mockingly. Link lifted his head from where he had laid down in an attempt to dodge the heat wave to observe the damage. Red's plan had worked... for the most part.

Red had burnt down most of the stumps blocking their way, leaving smoldering and smoking cinders. But the burning stumps were sending off billowing white smoke which could be seen from miles away. Red quickly realized what he had just done. "Oh SHIT!" he exclaimed.

Red and Link jumped up and started to put out the flames however they could. "FIND A WAY ACROSS! HURRY!" yelled Link to Blue and Purps. The two caught on to the direness of the situation immediately and franticly searched for a bridge, a low-lying tree, ~anything~. Blue ran over to the rock he had seen in the stumps, hopping over flames and scampering around charred trunks. He reached the rock and was shortly accompanied by Purps. They both began to heave, and slowly the rock rolled over through the heat while crushing a smoldering stump as it rolled by. Blue looked cautiously into the large hole in tye ground that was hidden under the rock and he noticed a ladder leading down into the hole. Link and Red ran up to them, having given up the futile fight against the flames, and Link noticed what Blue was eyeing.

"No time, jump for it and get moving!" commanded Link. Blue looked back to see Purps' hat already sinking down the dark hole, followed quickly by Red. Blue was still hesitant to follow, so Link shoved him forward, following behind quickly. Blue screamed as he tumbled into the blackness below, and soon noticed his voice wasn't the only one screaming.

* * *

><p>As Red slammed into the packed earth and let out a loud grunt. He rolled over and found himself looking up at Purps, who smirked and offered up a hand, which Red took with a thankful smile and pulled himself off the floor just as Blue landed and rolled onto his feet gracefully. Link came falling behind him and absorbed most of the shock onto his legs and tumbled back, then lifted himself up on the rungs. He leaned against the wall for support and gestured forward into the cave's blackness.<p>

Red drew the Fire rod and they hurried forward, using a brief flicker of flame from the rod to light the path, they only got five feet forward when Blue halted the party.

"You guys hear water running?" he asked nervously and Purps listened intently. He did hear the telltale trickle of water nearby, but the source seemed to come from all around them. Red stopped only briefly to cock his head and listen, then kept moving moments later and bringing the only light source with him.

"We must be under the stream then." commented Link as he walked past a slightly frightened Blue. They followed the dim torch until Red came across a ladder. He stared upwards from the base and looked over at the party and smiled in the flickering light. "Sorry 'bout this."

The cave went completely black as Blue, Link, and Purps began to fumble about in the dark, trying to find each other with their voices.

"Blue, WHAT'D YOU DO!"

"What? I couldn't- I wasn't ev- HOW?"

"I didn't say that, calm down now..."

"Hey, has anyone seen Red?"

"Purps, I can't even see the hand in front of my face."

The dim light illuminated the cave again, and the small group shielded their gaze to allow their eyes to adjust to sudden change of light to dark and back. Link noticed the light was now being cast from above them, and he saw Red dangling his legs over the ladder "So who's up next?"

As they climbed their way up, Red gradually increased the fire output to allow more illumination. He scanned the tunnel to look for a path to follow and saw only open space leading over the area they walked in from. He checked behind him to see a crystal switch attached to the floor. He walked over to further examine the crystal, and heard a loud thud behind him as he approached. He spun about, drawing his sword as he did, but saw nothing except the empty ledge. He returned his attention to the crystal and he gave it a quick look over before he turned back to the ladder he was supposed to be illuminating. _Oh, right_ thought Red as be peered over the edge of the rocky outcrop. To his amusement, Link was lying on his back at the ladder's base and groaning ever so slightly, with Blue and Purps gathered around him worriedly.

He brightened the magical weapon and all looked up. Red gave a 'friendly' wave and Link returned a scowl and pulled himself upwards using the rungs. Link reached the top of the ladder and got up to look around.

Red looked over towards him, "Not much other than a switch." he said. His voice echoed and bounced off the open area's narrow walls. Link sat down next to Red and waited impatiently on the rest of the group. They had an unspoken law that the group push buttons together after one particularly nasty trap that left Link fighting in alone against a moblin pack till help had arrived.

Blue arrived over the ledge's lip and walked over by the crystal since the spot by Red and Link was getting crowded. He saw Purps' head pop up on the ledge and he prodded the crystal switch with the hilt of his sword and watched the elaborate mixture of spellcraft and mechanics kick into motion. The open space past the ladder became crowded quickly with a resonating rumble of stone.

Portions of the wall skidded out of the way or tumbled off to the ground below to allow stone slabs to emerge and create a stone walkway above the floor. The thin slabs were suspiciously flimsy in appearance, but these tunnels had always been reliable transportation systems for Hylians. Using them, people could travel abroad without much worry about monsters prowling above attacking them. Even if monsters did enter, the tunnels were protected by simple puzzles and security systems that most Hylians had knowledge of, and if they didn't... well...

Blue broke off his train of thought and realized quickly that the group had almost crossed the bridge. Blue skipped across the small gap in the bridge left open for the ladder and hustled across. He saw Red's dim flame ascending up a ladder and poking against the roof, then releasing a mighty spout of flames and allowing a bright ray of sunlight to filter through the smoke and into the tunnel. Blue slowed as he approached the ladder and grabbed onto a rung to start climbing. He ascended quickly and arrived at the top in a clearing just as Purps was dusting off his tunic. He gave Blue a nod and a smile as he absently scanned the landscape they were heading into, a small pass between two steep hills.

Blue pulled himself up turned his gaze across the ravine that they had burrowed under and saw that the fires had begun to die down, but they were still sending off billowing clouds of smoke. He shook his head and turned around to face Link and Red who were starting to move forward already. Red gave Purps a light touch on the shoulder and he tore his gaze from the slopes ahead of them as he joined the group.

* * *

><p>They walked into the small and grassy canyon with trees on top of either side of the walls. Link drew his sword and shield as Red and Purps pulled their swords from their scabbards. They weren't in any immediate danger, but they were in the most venerable position possible. The slopes were to steep to climb and the tree line would provide perfect cover to any ambushing thieves or anyone who saw the rather large and smokey welcome sign the Heroes had placed above their heads. If they were ambushed now, they would be trapped like zoras in ice.<p>

The group tensed up, and prepared themselves for trouble of whatever kind when the ground beneath them suddenly shook and rumbled ominously. The shaking stopped as abruptly as it began, and the group looked across at one another with looks of confusion plastered onto their faces. Purps looked over nervously to Red. "What's going o-"

He stopped midsentence as the floor shook again, and they moved into the cross formation for greatest protection on all sides, preparing for anything.

"It can't be an earthquake" thought Blue aloud, "earthquakes don't have patterns, it sounds like something's coming here!" he exclaimed as another rumble, more powerful than the last, accented his statement. Link was at the far edge of the cross closest to the valley's end and he sprinted towards the end with a slight head start above his companions. He hurdled over the small rocks blocking his passage and threw others out of the way as he bolted towards the rope ladder leading up the slope of the ravine, intent on getting away from their trapped position and to the higher ground to fight whatever was approaching. He quickly scaled the ladder with Blue, Red, and Purps following behind him and poked his head over the ledge.

He saw the impossible. Shadow Link was standing in the field's center and was sinking into the ground while he stared straight towards Link. He smiled with an ear to ear grin as his head sunk away into the field and he vanished, leaving nothing. Link sprinted across the field and charged toward the spot Shadow had disappeared to. Link sank to the floor as he reached the spot, seeing nothing unusual about the unkempt grassy field. Blue stuck his head over the ledge and saw Link scrambling wildly around the field as if searching for something, screaming in frustration "Where is it? A trap door? Magic runes? WHERE ARE YOU?"

Blue's trained eyes scoured the plane and he let out a low whistle to attract the distraught hero's attention. Link looked up from his frenzied search to see Blue making silencing motions with his hands and gesturing around the field with his head. Link stopped and looked around to see that he was flanked by two fully grown octoroks, each as tall as him. Fortunately, they were eating grass and neither had noticed the green hero at both of their backs. Blue climbed the ladder and motioned for Red and Purps to stay there by flapping an arm in a downward motion. He looked back to Link's situation again as his mind raced for a solution.

Octoroks were hard of hearing, maybe even deaf, since they lacked ears. This lead to their heightened sense of taste, smell, and sight. As long as the omnivores were eating grass and filling two of their three senses, Link could still escape. Blue motioned over to Link to return and stopped as he noticed the monster to the right perk up. "Oh Din." said Blue aloud. Link, Blue, and the Octorok all knew at once the beast had caught a wiff if human flesh, Link's flesh. It lumbered around to face Link straight on for the clearest shot and it inhaled deeply, preparing to fire a ball of compact waste to knock the Hero down to for good.

Link stared down the large beast's barrel nose. He checked over his shoulder briefly as an idea formed in his mind. He rolled towards the second Octorok as the one targeting him took its shot. The ballistic, easily the size of Link's head, sailed into the area Link was previously standing and slammed through a solid tree trunk, sending shrapnel and splinters scattering through the air with a tremendous crash. Link slid right behind the second monster and prepared for another roll. He waited till the beast that was aware of him fired again and then he rolled towards the ladder. The huge ballistic slammed into no longer dormant Octorok and it turned around with a thunderous roar to face the challenger. Link slid out of his roll and into a prone position next to Blue to avoid detection, both of them watching the amusing spectacle.

The two Octoroks growled and hissed at each other as they armed their ballistics. The one that was hit fired off the first shot and hit it's attacker with a well placed blast to the eye, causing it to become blinded permanently should it survive the battle. The blind one fired a return shot and followed with a charge and the two monsters slammed heads. They snarled and slid across the field as Red poked his head over the ledge.

"What's going on up...whoa!" he said, ducking as a stray ballistic fired from point blank missed both its intended and accidental targets. He heard a loud bellow and the two monsters tumbled over the edge and into the tiny canyon, flailing and firing their natural cannons as they tumbled down the path, bouncing off walls and into the stream. Red shimmied up the ladder and helped Link up off his feet.

"Clever trick there, were they making all that ruckus?" he asked. Link shook his head and leaned onto his knees to support himself, still shocked by what he had witnessed.

"Shadow." he said flatly. Blue cocked his head questioningly and Purps reeled backwards and off the ladder he had almost reached the top of with a startled yelp. There was a stunned silence, which Red broke as he burst out laughing suddenly. "That's actually a good one there Link, I didn't think you could make a joke." he chuckled some more until his laughter died off as Red gazed into Link's stern face, devoid of any humor.

"Does it look like I'm joking?" Link asked, or rather stated. Red looked at him seriously and actually considered the weight of Link's words ponderously. He sputtered his lips when the hysterical laughter burst past Red's mouth. He kept laughing madly, causing Blue to actually move backwards from the unpredictable doppelganger.

"Link, I SAW you run Shadow through on your sword, there's no way ANYTHING could have survived a straight gutting like that." Red stated, his mocking mirth dying out slowly. "Shadow is dead; I don't even think he was a real threat in the beginning, just some goon Vaati hired so some one could get him unsealed."

Link shook his head "No way, magically created minions die in a smokey explosion, normal monsters die regularly, but Shadow left no trace... nothing. He's no normal foe."

Blue looked skeptically from the floor. "Well, lets be reasonable Link. I think that if Shadow was making the earthquake, those octoroks would have noticed the ground shaking black creature, right? I don't doubt something happened since we all felt it, but maybe those monsters were recently fighting and still had some high tensions." Link glared at Blue, but was forced to agree with his logic. Those octoroks hadn't noticed a thing, so either they caused it or Shadow was being protected by...

Purps walked up from his spot near the ladder and put a reassuring hand on Link "It's not a bad thing if they're right, right?" Link sighed and nodded in agreement. He just couldn't be sure if he had killed his enemies anymore, Vaati, now this _thing_... Link was becoming doubtful of the Four Sword's blade.

He stood straight and turned to the far side of the plain, searching for a path to continue down. _They're taking too long_ thought Red restlessly. He looked above Purps and saw their smoke signal drifting far above the tree tops, inviting anyone to come and see what had caused the fires. His eyes scanned over to the west and saw two boulders blocking two path through the trees. "Let's get going!" He yelled loudly.

Blue winced, all this yelling would only help if someone were tracking them down, but he had to agree, they needed to hurry. A thought struck him as he positioned himself near the boulder next to Link as they prepared to lift. "Hey guys, where exactly _are_ we going?"

The party stopped what they were doing to stare at Blue. It was a simple question, but they really didn't think it had needed answering. Purps responded quickly to avoid Red's easily detected scorn from entering the conversation. "Well, the maidens got kidnapped so we've got to save them, right? Besides, I'm wondering what the soldiers are up to. It could make our lives much easier if we could get some help, so I'd say we head towards Hyrule castle to find a map of the temples we need to visit and find out how the army's condition is."

Red responded as he placed his foot against the boulder that Blue and Link were about to push on. "Hold on, Purps, I think we ought to head back towards Link's...er, our... THE house that's got all our weapons in it."

Link grunted as he pushed the boulder away from the path with the help of Red and Blue, "No need, I can tell the house would be empty. That's your Fire rod, and this is my boomerang." He said between breaths as the gang shoved the boulder. "Don't look at me like that, I saw its scratch. Besides, no one makes magic boomerangs like this one. I guarantee you, if we checked the house we would find it ransacked and empty. Just a matter of time before we find our old weapons." he stated to Red as the boulder rolled off into the tree's ahead.

Link walked forward onto the new path they had formed when a slimy blue monster leapt up off the floor and tripped Link over and onto the floor. "NAYRU'S SAKE!" screamed Link as he rolled over to grab and dislodge the weird gelatin beast from his booted ankles. He flailed and kicked to no avail as the beast slowly started to slide up his body, enveloping Link's legs and slithering upwards and wrapping around his struggling form.

"One of you gonna help me with this?" Link yelled as he neared a frantic state. His companions just stood over him uselessly as Link struggled a fruitless battle.

"So... what exactly ~is~ that anyway?"

"Blue Chu maybe?"

"Nah, Chus are going into hibernation soon..."

"Who asked you Blue?"

"I think that was Purps."

"Hey, I'm Purps"

"HELP ME DAMNIT!" screamed Link as the weird slime enveloped and immobilized his elbows. Wherever its stretchy blue body enveloped felt like it was packed inside a slab of stone.

Red watched with some amusement as the Slime eventually reached Link's chin, already slowing his jaw from producing swears so violently and quickly. Blue drew his sword "Alright, shows over, I don't want it to _kill_ him."

"Aww, I wanted to see what happened if it covered his mouth!" said a dejected Purps, obviously disappointed.

"It would have killed him and he'd stop cursing, why do you have to be such an ass, man." said Red giving Purps a pat on the back and glaring at Blue. Blue sighed and poked the creature with his sword, puncturing the thin membrane that kept its digestive acids in and paralyzing goop out. The beast popped and spilled it's foul smelling blue liquid all over the floor as Link jumped up and away from the mess he was recently trapped in.

"BLEGH! DAMN THING GOT IN MY PANTS!" Link exclaimed, shaking blue gunk out from his tunic's folds. He looked up at Red and Purps grinning faces just as he realized the unfortunate meaning of the slang he had accidentally used. "No wait, I didn't mean it like that-"

The damage was already done, Red and Purps fell about themselves laughing, even Blue managed a chuckle at his friend's unfortunate slip of the tongue. Blue passed him as he gave Link some berth while trying to keep his distance from the fowl smelling hero in green. "You're gonna want to wash that off." Blue said while pressing on. He was shortly followed by Link, who was leaving a sickly blue trail wherever his boots met the ground. "You think?" he asked sarcastically, being followed by a mirthful Purps and Red, who were supporting each other from collapsing under their laughter.

The group rounded the corner and quickly slowed to a halt. They were on the side of a ledge that was a lengthy 15 feet above a deep lake spanning below them, which seemed to be running to the West as water rushed under the bridge to their right.

"Whoa!" exclaimed Red as he almost slipped over the ravine and into the flowing water below, but he was yanked back from the cliffs ledge by Purps. Blue leaned cautiously over the lip of the cliff, looking anxiously at some shallow and jagged rocks that waited just underneath the water's surface. "So how are we gonna get down?" he asked, not looking forward to such a landing.

"Hmm, if we had some rope we could lower ourselves..." thought Link, he leaned over to survey the ravines sides to see if they were climbable as something whizzed right where his head was and imbedded itself in the tree trunk. Purps looked with wide eyes at the shaking arrow in the tree and dropped to a knee as he surveyed the bridge. His trained eyes saw a group of blue armor clad warriors with helmets resting over glaring white eyes looking almost hungrily at the group of one. He gulped as he stared at the four or five armored bandits being lead by one with green armor wielding the bow. Purps couldn't see their leaders face, but he could almost feel the low curse breathed under his helmet at the near miss. He signaled a few orders to his troops and they obeyed instantaneously, silently jogging down the bridge to report back somewhere.

Purps eyes widened even more when he noticed the green assassin pulling another arrow from his quiver and aiming directly at Purps. His sword flashed from its sheath as he slashed at the new projectile while dodging, clipping the flint arrow point with his sword and causing a loud ring and sparks to emanate through the calm lakeside air.

"Shields up!" yelled Purps. The group's eyes shot toward the Purple clone and back at the bridge, where the armor clad foe screamed a single command and half a dozen more troops dressed like him sprang over the bush line on the far side of the lake with crossbows at the ready.

In perfect unison, the Hero(s) looked up with a single expression of dread as the leader on the bridge yelled out a single command

"FIRE!"

"DIVE!" exclaimed Red, already lunging headfirst into the water with an arrow bouncing off the shield on his back. He was followed shortly by Blue and Purps, curled behind their shields, and eventually Link as arrows rained down upon the spot they had submerged, a small red cloud already floating rapidly away downstream...


	4. Chapter 1:1 Interlude

Ch 1 Interlude

Link felt the freezing cold rush against his face that numbed his bones as he slid into the stream, but the adrenaline surging through his veins managed to keep him pressing on. Bolts whined through the water around him and zipped past his body, a few actually grazing his tunic. Link dove deeper and swam against the current, trying to get underneath the bridge where he would be covered from the steel storm breaking the water's surface. He swam hard against the current as he slowly tired out, his lungs burning as he fought the urge to gape for air where he knew they would find none. He pushed on with heavy limbs through the water, regardless of what his instincts told him.

AIR

_I couldn't... I'll be pincu-_

**AIR** screamed every fiber of his being

_Can't... not go up... bridge's... so close..._ he thought sluggishly, his vision flickering as traces of darkness enveloped the edges of his sight...

Darkness, the shadow of the bridge was just above him.

**AIR!**

He complied, using his final reserves of strength to kick off the lake bed and rocket to the surface. He cleared the waters grasp and lunged into the dry world as he gasped for precious air. Small red spots danced across his field of vision as he quickly began to sink back into the wet clutches of suffocation when an arm grabbed him and pulled him onto a wooden planked floor.

"NO! NO FUCK NO! HE CAN'T DIE! NOT ANOTHER!" screamed Red, howling in rage toward the open lake they had come from, his voice bouncing off the man-made cavern's walls. Despair filled Link's mind and crushed all other thoughts as he gasped, not only for air._ Another? One of ours, DEAD?_ He thought, they couldn't fail this early...

"Purps or Blue?" he choked out desperately, trying to push air he didn't have past his lips. Red turned and gave him a confused look.

"Who'd I fail, Purps or Blue!" he sobbed out, tears slipping over his already watery eyes.

Red slapped him across the face hard enough to get him thinking again, taking the tears as a sign of weakness. "Shut up you moron! No one died yet, but you might if you don't breathe for FARON'S FUCKIN SAKE!" he hissed.

Confusion replaced Link's despair, what the hell was Red saying? He heard an aggravated sigh, followed by whispering very near his ear "It's better if they think we've got lower numbers, so make them think that." He felt Red's forcing arm drag him upright on the curious floating platform that rocked as they shifted their weight. Red dragged his companion up a small rope ladder leading to a ledge with just feet between the bridge and patchy floor. Link was thrown unceremoniously to a grassy patch next to a boulder which turned from light grey to a darker hue as the water from Link's tunic seeped onto the cold stone. He struggled upright as Red poked and prodded at Link's wounds.

"Hey! Watch it!" mumbled Link, still feeling lightheaded. Red reached up and pulled the iconic green hat off of Link's head and showed him a hole with a bolt from the crossbow still lodged halfway through it.

"Lucky sumbitch, aren't you?" mumbled Red, staring at the gap that nearly gave Link a new nostril in his skull's back. He crumpled the hat and tossed it back to Link who gave Red a warning glance. "Watch it with the ha-"

"mmmpppfffgghhhmmmuuuuu!" yelled a muffled voice. Link turned his head over to see his other two companions performing some kind of surgery. Blue had his hat clenched in between his teeth as he fought through the pain of extraction. Purps was maneuvering an arrow through his calf and towards the other end, blood covering his hands as he squinted and focused for this crucial part of operation, carefully moving the arrow through the tough and muscled leg and around Blue's veins. Blue adjusted the hat and released another snarl of pain as the arrowhead appeared bloodied out of the other side of Blue's calf.

"MUFFUGGHHAA" he yelled, his swear muffled. Purps broke the arrow head off of the shaft and swiftly pulled the broken projectile out of the hole it created upon entry. His dirty work done, Purps got up to go wash his dark red and wet hands off. Blue stayed leaned against the wall as he fought through the intense pain he endured. He began clenching and easing his muscles to take his focus off his bloody calf. He sighed weakly.

It wasn't even midday yet.

* * *

><p>Purps was washing his hands off in the slow moving stream. As he watched the red cloud wash off his hand and down the dirty river, a thought struck him. He wiped his hands off his tunic and climbed up the small rope ladder, troubled about this disturbing idea.<p>

"We've gotta stop Blue from bleeding if we want to move on, he can't get sick and slow us down even more." Purps reported to the group. "Were gonna need boiling water to clean off the wound and some way to stop the bleeding..."

"Could we use his hat?" asked Link. The hat had become his sort of trademark; any kid wearing a green hat was obviously trying to impersonate the Hero of Hyrule. "Maybe if they see him without it, they won't think he's me."

"But what if they think he's Shadow?" asked Red.

Blue spit out his hat to get his thoughts in, "I though you were the one saying we killed Shadow!"

Red glared at their deadweight companion "No one else knows that, even Link doubts it, so shut your crippled mouth."

Purps snapped his fingers together. "Hey! I just got an idea! Pass me the Fire Rod?" he said, thankfully stopping the argument from escalating. Link cocked an eyebrow questioningly and Red reluctantly agreed. "You know how to work that thing?" he asked cautiously while passing it over to the eager Purps. Blue squirmed in his seat, not liking the idea already.

"Yeah, no worries, just get a little flame going on..." said Purps as he held the blowtorch in both hands, awaiting a small flicker of flames. He sat waiting for a few seconds, then bumped the weapon against his palm as if something was jamming it. "What's wrong with this thing-" A spout of flames burst out of the fire rod's tip, scorching the wall next to Blue's head.

"WHOA WHOA WHOA WHOA!" screamed Purps as he dropped the rod quickly, catching the grass around it aflame. Red ran over and quickly stomped out the flames, while picking up his weapon and cradling it carefully like a child. He checked briefly for scratches as Purps quickly spat out an apology "Oh man, Red, I'm SO sorry. I swear, this usually never happens to me!"

Red smiled and shook it off unnaturally quickly for the easily angered swordsman. "Don't sweat it Purps, it takes a lot of practice to actually learn how to use this thing, maybe I'll teach you some day."

"No worry for Blue?" Link questioned, gesturing towards the wide eyed and singed warrior who was cowering behind his shield with terror plastered on his face as he mumbled incoherently. "-"

"Calm down, I heard it's great for your hair!" Purps said with a good natured smile.

"Maybe if you don't want it!" retorted Blue heatedly, "OK, I can't believe I'm saying this, but give Red the Rod and let him do... Whatever, just don't let him burn me alive." said Blue, barely managing to wrangle the words around his tongue. Red grinned evilly at the chance to roast Blue, smiling as the Rod in his hands sprang to life. He took a step forward and was pulled back by Purps, who whispered instructions in his ear.

"Well that's no fun." stated Red, but he sighed and complied. Anything to get them back onto the road. Purps rolled up Blue's leggings to reveal a nasty wound and Red lifted the leg none to gently, causing a wince from their patient. The fire rod's searing tip approached Blue and he started to panic once he felt the flames begin.

"Actually, you know what? I changed my mind, keep it away from me. Wait, WHAT ARE YOU DOING?" he screamed, Link scooted over for a better view.

Purps heaved out a sigh "Way to take the dramatic confusion out of it, we're cauterizing the wound so nothing... weird gets inside you while we're passing through the water. It will keep you from catching something, but don't pick at it, OK?" he explained as Red sent a tiny flame from the burning jewel as it licked at Blue's wound. Blue grimaced in pain as the acrid smell of his burnt hair filled the small cavern while the flames licked at the dark red blood which quickly dried into a brownish hue and stopped the blood from escaping Blue. Red flipped the rod over in his hands and none too carefully toasted the other side of the wound to ebb the bloody tide, and then got up as Purps cleaned up after their patch-work surgery.

Red sat down next to Link as he finished the procedure. "What now? I think we're pinned down here if they're on the bridge." he mentioned as he laid his back onto the rock with Link. Unsurprisingly, the stone began to shift backwards, but this time was different in a sense that the boulder yelped in pain as it shifted backwards.

"AUUUGGGHHHHH" yelled the rock. Red and Link jumped up and drew their swords and Blue picked up the shield he left next to him. Purps sat up and drew his weapon as he heard the yell and scrape of swords against their scabbards. Red cautiously circled around the rock and saw a strange green dressed man trapped halfway under the rock.

"Umm, hi there?" Red asked, somewhat baffled, had this eavesdropper been here all along? The small green man started to turn blue to the face, and he started gaping like a fish.

"What? Are you dying or som- oh, Nayru's sake, LINK! Lend a hand flipping the rock! I think this freak's choking!" Red stated loudly. Red on one end and Link on the other, they flipped the rock over and into the water bellow, where it's spray flew above the ledge with a thunderous crash and drenched Red, Link, and the funny green man, who lay still.

"Um... Are you alright... sir?" asked Link to the stranger. Red rolled his eyes at Link and swiftly kicked the green intruder's exposed stomach. Link was about to reprimand Red but closed his mouth when he saw that his tactics worked and the man was stirring. His strangely slanted eyes shot open and he stared at Red.

"..." The weird man's dark eyes shot from Red to his surroundings, wildly around again, then stopped at Red again

"..." silence still. The man's eyes continued darting, almost... following something? Link quickly followed the gaze that flew just above his head and behind him and Link spun about to check.

"..." the man was standing straight up as if he always had been in front of Link for says without moving, mere inches from Link's surprised face. The two were almost nose to nose until Link jumped back in shock, almost falling off the small ledge behind him and into the rapid stream.

Link stumbled but the man firmly gripped Link's arm and pulled him on balance, speaking and gazing through Link with his huge eyes. "You... You saved Tingle?"

Link looked this "Tingle" up and down. He was a man easily in his mid 40's, an admiral feat for one so obviously crazy. He had no hair showing on his tear shaped head, but his features stuck out remarkably. He had dark and squinty eyes set inside his pale face resting above two rosy, spiraling markings on his plump cheeks which stood guard by an unnaturally large and rosy nose. Under the nose, the man's features managed to become even stranger. His small buck teeth were sticking out at all the wrong angles, and Link could ~feel~ the stench of his breath. He had a jagged goatee that almost matched his ears' points which stuck out of his head at jaunty angles, massive even by Hylian standards, but they were concealed under the top of the bright green and stretchy suit he wore, like Link's leggings except more fit for the body. The suit covered his bloated shape from fork shaped head to thankfully hidden toes and he wore bright red... Link wanted to use a word other than thong, since this nut was obviously no lady, but that is what the outer garments were. Link questioned weather falling into the stream was a better fate...

"Ooo...! Th-that outfit! That aura!" cooed the strange man, reaching out and poking at Link's garbs to test their reality. Link's grip on his sword tightened as he prepared to defend himself should Tingle decide anything funny, what was going on in his mind?

"It's the fairy that Tingle dreamed of..." said tingle, moving forward towards Link and forcing him to take another step away from the safety of the plain. Link looked over to his team mates and saw Purps standing over Blue with a sword drawn and Red standing behind Tingle, sword ready and smiling. Either he was getting a kick from Link's misfortune, or he was eagerly awaiting to run Tingle through, Link wasn't sure, but he shook his head to signal Red to wait.

Tingle lunged forward and embraced Link in a bear hug, knocking the sword from his hand and simultaneously pulling him away from the cliff side as he twirled Link in his surprisingly strong grip.

"It's you!"

Link struggled out of the grip and tumbled to the ground, where he pulled himself up while dusting himself off. He raised his weapon at the intruder of his personal space.

"Listen... Um, Tingle? I'm no fairy, and I REALLY hope I'm not the guy you dreamed about, so you had better stay back or-"

Link's threats and sword where swept aside as Tingle walked past the cold steel and re-embraced his savior. "Oh Mr. Fairy, you coming to my rescue has left me overcome with emotion!" exclaimed the man.

Purps couldn't verify from where he was sitting, but he was pretty sure he knew what 'overcome with emotion' meant when the stout stranger hugged Link, and Link's expression of disgust made it certain. Purps chuckled under his breath at Link's luck, or lack thereof

Link fought himself free of Tingle's bear hug. "GOOD FARORE MAN! Look, I'm glad you're alright, but seriously. Don't you have someone else to-"

"Nope! No time to see and no place to be! That's me, Tingle! Let me thank you by sharing some thrilling Tingle News with you!" exclaimed the jolly green man. "The oh so Tingle-esque pastime of collecting Force Gems is all the rage now!"

"Hang on a second, didn't these just begin showing up recen-"

"In fact, I got stuck under here trying to get the Force Gem under this rock. But you saved Tingle! Clearly, it was the power of the gems that lead you here to Tingle!"

"You didn't answer my question, and we actually saved you on acci-"

"Tingle believes without a doubt that good things come from collecting Force Gems."

"Listen Tingle, the only good thing you'll get is a brand new sword sticking out of you ribca-" started an aggravated Link, but was quickly cut off once again.

"Why, collecting enough force gems may even turn Tingle into a real and true fairy! No doubt that's why you're after the force gems too, Isn't it, Mr. Fairy?"

"NO IT'S NOT! Listen here you wacky..."

Purps could tell Link was about to loose his cool with the excitable man, so he decided to step in Link's place. With a pat to Link's shoulder and a nod, Purps stepped up to talk with the strange character.

"Tingle, have you seen the Hylian guards lately?" asked Purps politely. Tingle turned and snapped at the magenta Link.

"Do you how rude it is to interrupt a conversation?  
>Get out of here you imposing abomination!" rhymed the moody stranger.<p>

Purps cocked an eyebrow as if inviting the challenge. He cleared his throat and returned the rhyme.  
>"You silly green fool, I'm no imposter nor abomination,<br>For I'm of this sword's creation.  
>See Link here is the Hero of the Four Sword,<br>And I'm one of him, so you can take my word.  
>We're trying to save the Maidens and seal a deal,<br>So let me make this crystal clear.  
>We need an update on the Hyrulian condition<br>and some clue as to our location.  
>So what's guard up to and where are we at?<br>Just tell me and you might not get stabbed."

Blue, Link and Tingle stared wide eyed at the apparently well versed warrior and Tingle gasped as he felt cold steel press up against his exposed cheek and Red leaned on Tingle's shoulder.

"You wouldn't me to follow through for Purps now would you?" threatened Red, who had used Purps' ballad to sneak behind the stout stranger. Tingle gulped as the edge of the blade pressed a bit harder against his oily skin.

"Well, heh heh, Tingle sends you his apologies,  
>Hopefully not as his eulogies.<br>Where we are is under a bridge in Lake Hylia  
>And the guard was going... um... to find... uhhh<br>Tingle cannot rhyme with a sword to his throat,  
>now back yourself up you deceiving stoat!" said Tingle as he brought his black boot backwards and up in-between Red's legs.<p>

He skipped towards the cliffs edge giggling madly as Purps ran over to check up on the downed Red. Link barreled after the green stranger with revenge on his mind.

"Hey come back here!" shouted Link to little avail.

Tingle stopped on the edge of the river and faced them "Let's be fair about where we look and share the gems equally, Mr. Fairy!" he said with a smile. "And with that, Tingle must say his farewells!"

Link charged towards the ledge "Don't you jump you psychotic gre-"

"Tingle..." he said, stating his name and performing a weird dance which involved lifting his arms over his pointed right ear.

Blue attempted to stand, but slid back against the wall. "Nayru bless the fool, I think he's about to ju-"

"Tingle..." he said again, switching his arms as Link got even closer to his prey.

"Ko-LimpAAA!" screamed Tingle, performing a back flip off the cliff side and out of the group's sight over the ledge.

The group held their breath in anticipation and Purps turned his head after seconds had passed, "There's no splash... Where did he go?"

As if in answer, Tingle floated into view on a large red balloon. He waved a fan in their direction and laughed widely as he floated off, steered by the fan he held alone.

"Goodbye you purple Fairy fake! I hope you come to harm!  
>Next time we meet, maybe you won't be as well armed!"<br>he laughed at them as he floated under the bridge's lip and off into the sunlight above.

"FIRE!" yelled a voice from above and there was a loud pop followed by Tingle's fading screams as he sailed past of hearing range of our Heroes.

Horrary for support! Thanks for the reviews guys, they are all much appreciated and read, but sorry if I don't get back to them though... I'm still not to sure about how to work this site. Constructive criticism welcomed, always improves my work, blah blah blah, but I genuinely thank you for any words you have to say about my writing. Reviews are like drugs that make me want to keep writing, so please keep them coming, or start writing them... I need my fix man. :D

Anyway, about the story. I plan to do updates about twice a month, three if I manage to get back on top of my self-made schedule, shouldn't have uploaded Chapter 1-1 before I got done with at least Chapter 2. Bad planning on my part, but it's my first ever story so that was the first of my hopefully few mistakes. Also i try not to incorporate author's notes per chapter. I've read a few stories and I've learned that involvement leads to OCs, OCs lead to Mary Sues, and Mary Sues lead to bad writing (no offense to anyone that does that, I just think writing is fun since you get to develop people that bear no resemblance to you. At all.)

Don't worry though, whenever I do interludes like this I plan to give my thought on the chapters so far or say whatever. BUT I also will advance the story as evident here, just with a somewhat smaller chapter. These might get used if I need to change the daytime, feel like throwing in shout outs, meet a deadline, adding character development, giving in to a ~tiny~ amount of requests (no madness, plot related advances, or stupidity, please. still a relatively serious work) or featuring fan work if I ever get to that point in writing not-failure. By the way, let me know if you have any questions or comments. I'm not sure if these chapters are too long/short, but just let me know and I can attempt to adjust.

Fun fact: all my writing is done on an iPod without auto-correct on (silly thing tells me octoroks and Hylians aren't real). Moral of that story is please forgive sudden mood shifts in the story or grammatical errors. I will sometimes write a scene and drop it off since I can't find a proper adjective and return with a completely new idea of how the scene should go the next day. It usually isn't a problem unless I point it out... *awkward chuckle*

Anyway, thanks for support and see you all next update! As long as I've got one person interested, half a brain, and two thumbs, the show must go on!


	5. Chapter 1:1 PRT 3

Ch 1-1 (Prt 3)

* * *

><p>Link sighed as the green man sailed into the distance. They could have gotten some more information from him, and then Red had to mess that up. He looked over at his team, already in shambles with Red curled over in a fetal position with Purps attending to him while Blue was trying to stand without putting weight on his injured leg. He shook his head, they really had to get this together, and someone needed to lead them.<em> He<em>needed to lead them.

"Alright, let's get moving. We're wasting too much time just sitting here and wa-"

"Sorry Link, but you saw what happened to Tingle. The bandits are still up there and they must be waiting on us." Purps said without looking, having decided Red would live to see another day. "I mean at least we know where we are now and we could figure out where to go but we still need some supplies so-"

Purps' thoughts slowed from his tongue as he watched Blue pick himself up on shaky limbs. Link walked over to lend him a support, but Blue motioned him away stubbornly.

"Link's right, I'm sick of waiting and those bastards need to know who their dealing with." he said boldly, removing his sword from his back and using its scabbard as a cane. "Let's go, it's time for some revenge!" He held the 'cane' with his right hand and tested his weight on the sacred blade's sapphire encrusted pommel. Satisfied, he limped forward and to the cliffs ledge, followed by Link. Purps pulled Red off his feet and they followed the party.

"Don't you think I should be leading?" asked Link, trying to cut in front of Blue.

"Well I don't see why I should do tha-" Blue replied as he almost put his good foot off the cliff's edge. Loose pebbles tumbled into the stream below, almost taking extra effort to hit every conceivable bump on the way down. "Okay yeah, you lead." he said with his confidence dampened.

Link slowly climbed down the edge and into the water, followed by Blue. Even when he was injured, Blue was still even more dexterous than his most of his companions. He slipped into the water before Link even arrived and hung onto the wall to conserve his strength as he silently guided Link to the proper handholds. As Link quietly slipped into the water, he waved to Purps and Red who waited above. Red began his descent and quickly lost his footing, he slid down the side of the cliff, bringing chunks of the wall tumbling down into the water with, causing a small "sploosh" sound to echo throughout the cave.

"SHHH" hissed Blue, not being very quiet himself, Link raised his palm to his forehead as he tread water.

"Guys, how deep is the water?" asked Purps from above them. Red took a big breath and sunk out of sight for a few seconds then resurfaced. "Pretty deep, why?"

"Well, it isn't shallow enough to stand in, is it?" he asked hesitantly.

Link groaned, "Purps are you telling us you don't know how to swim?"

There was silence from above, broken by a loud splash that sounded from the other side of the cavern. Link peered through a few gaps in the tight rock wall that blocked off where they were now from the side they entered in. He saw a disturbance on the water's face like something just fell in and it was quickly followed up by several bolts piercing the disrupted water. Above him, Purps leaped over the ledge and dove into the water below gracefully and silently sliding into the murky water, he resurfaced near where the bridge's cover ended.

"Hurry! They're distracted!" he said quickly, diving back under the water. Link swam over to the edge of the bridge's safety and took a deep breath and submerged. It took a moment to accommodate to the icy chill water's flow, it reminded him of a winter's gust clawing at his face. He cracked his eyes open slightly and saw a purple blur swimming up river underwater, followed by a red blur slowly diminishing after him into the dark blue haze clouding his vision. Link kicked his legs behind him and angled downward, putting his hands ahead of him and pushing them down to his sides, pulling through the water. He kept swimming forward till his lungs could no longer take the strain and he swam up to the surface. He surfaced and heard a loud rushing sound all about him. _That can't be good _he thought. Taking a huge gulp of air, he dipped under the water's surface again and pushed forward.

After swimming for what felt like forever, Link surfaced and turned backwards, pushing his hair out of his face and wiping off the water from his eyes. He saw the bridge far in the distance, well out of crossbow range, and again he heard the intense rushing of... something behind him. He ducked under the water; dodging the attack he felt would have cleaved his head off and he poked his head above the water to see the noisy threat.

Link struggled to keep above the water as he gazed at the most incredible waterfall he had ever seen. It seemed to be pouring from the top of the sky itself it was so massive. _I've never been to this part of the lake before _he thought awe struck. He was forced to tear his gaze off of the mighty falls as he turned to his teammates calling his name. Red was resting on one of the conveniently floating platforms, like the one under the bridge, and Blue was struggling up with the help of Purps. There were four platforms all swaying in the waterfall's current, but Link swam towards the far right one, being nearest to him.

He clambered up and skipped across the gaps between the planks to meet up with his team. Blue flopped onto his back breathing heavily, his fist clenched tightly. Link looked on curiously and almost hopped the final gap...

"Don't get on! It's already shaking enough as is" said Purps, motioning Link to stay where he was. Blue sat up and heaved a sigh.

"Don't worry about me, I'm just tired out. Swimming in circles does that to you." he chuckled breathily. Red scoffed and rolled his eyes "Wimp" he mumbled under his breath.

Blue glared at him "You try swimming with one leg dragging, you get no-where!" he said, the annoyance easily detected in his tone. "Besides, at least I got something out of backtracking once or twice…" he unclenched his fist and revealed a red Force Gem. Red's eyebrows shot up at the sight.

"What the he-"

"These are pretty buoyant I think. Hit my head on it floating in the water." he said with a flashy smirk at the jealousy on Red's face.

"Why you…"

"HEY! If you two are done fighting, can we get a move on?" asked Link, already ascending up the soggy rope ladder leading up the waterfall's side, dampened by the spray. He already found his patience being shredded to a fraction under his companion's presence, but he held tongue in cheek. The two glanced up and then back at each other and began scrambling up the ladder, racing to beat the other to the top.

It was a surprisingly long climb, and trying to keep up with the tough Red was no easy task for Blue, especially when he was injured. Blue winced as he lifted his wounded leg up onto the next rung on the ladder, he felt the scab crack a bit, but he pressed onwards. Yard after yard passed under him as Blue slowly clambered up the loose ladder. A strong gust shook the ladder and Blue wrapped his arms around the nearest rung, tempted to let his legs flop around in the flurry. When the winds settled, he pulled him self up once more, fighting gravity on his way to the top of the ledge. He eventually rolled over the top of the ladder and onto the soaked grass under him panting heavily.

* * *

><p>Purps heard a wet flop behind him, which he quickly assumed to be Blue. He normally would check, but who would want to look away from this view?<p>

They had only reached halfway up the mighty falls, and they were just above the mist formed from thousands of pounds of water crashing against the lake. The clear sky above them and the bright sunlight mingled and formed a bright vivid rainbow when it cast its warm rays through the cold mist. A gust of wind blew past and the cool spray dampened Purp's brow, cooling him down after the climb. He let out a content sigh. This is what he lived for: this is what kept Hyrule great. Well, that and the teamwork the heroes put into keeping the kingdom from falling into anarchy without the closest thing to a ruler in power.

_Right, princess _he thought with a silly grin. He could get sidetracked very easily. He looked away from the beautiful falls and back onto the ledge to his team... that wasn't there.

_Problematic_. He decided with his smile fading. He looked around the sides of the slippery mountain for another ladder to continue the assent, but only saw a dim cave entrance. He heard noises of squabbling coming from within the cavern and shook his head as he walked in. Crazy bastards...

"NO WAY am I getting in that crazy DEATH TRAP."

"Hey, these things work perfectly. We got them installed all over the kingdo-" Said a heavily accented voice that Purps didn't quite recognize.

"I don't care if Nayru herself uses this thing, NO MEANS NO."

"Calm down you pansy, it doesn't look so bad..."

"Then why the hells aren't you in it?"

"I'm waiting on Purps, common courtesy, you know."

"Red you don't know two things about manners!"

"Please and thank you, now fuck off."

This didn't seem like it was getting any better. Purps walked into the narrow corridor. He skipped over a ladder hole and walked towards the light spilling from under the overhang and onto the walls. He saw the three other heroes, no surprises, but there was also a grimy and dirty man wearing an oily black shirt with a dirt stained red hat. He was holding a lantern which cast off the aforementioned glow, so he easily noticed Purps looking at him and he waved with his free hand.

"Hey, looks like one of you kids are ballsy enough to use my cannon, off you go then!" yelled the man in a jolly voice and a wave at Purps. The team below turned to look up, expressions ranging from worry to curiosity imprinted on their face. Purps looked down, noticing the soft platform he was standing on for the first time.

"…Cannon?" he asked.

The man pressed a button on the wall, and the machine beneath Purps hummed to life and his footing slipped as the middle of the platform sunk down, forming the barrel of a suspended cannon. With a small yelp, Purps slid backwards and landed on his back on the soft cushion. He heard gears churning behind the swishy insides of the cannon, readying to launch. With a smooth click, all the motion stopped and the floor beneath Purps slid to a halt, waiting for a trigger to release a spring that would sail it's occupant into the air.

Purps sat still in shock, and then slowly tried to push himself up, but his hands sunk into the slushy leather bound watery cushion. His hand reached out for the wall to support himself, and he felt the wall slide inwards a little, followed by a quiet click from beneath him, then a loud crack of igniting gunpowder.

"Uh-oaaaAAAAHHHHUUUUUUGGGGGGHHHHH!"

The scream bounced off of the walls and out of hearing range from those below. The man maintaining the cannon smiled, "heheh, don't worry guys, he'll be alright. I just calibrated these things meself this morning..."

"THINGS? As in, more than one?" asked Blue. The man smiled knowingly and with a laugh and wink primed the cannon again.

"Hang on Purps, I'M A-COMING!" yelled Red as he lumbered up the ladder and jumped into the machine, with another click and another whoosh of screaming Link, Red sailed off towards the cave's exit high above them.

Blue and Link watched him sail off until his frame blocked the light at the top and disappeared into the blinding sunlight. Blue nervously hid his concern with a casual yawn as he stretched his arms behind his head "Well, I guess it's your turn." he said to Link. A rough arm pushed him forward and up the ladder, guided by the man.

"Oh no ya don't. I've seen enough people chicken out to know the signs." he said with a good natured smile and a hearty chuckle. "Hurry up before ya get all panicky, kid."

Blue ascended the ladder quickly and headed towards the cannon under Link's watchful eye, "Hey man, I'm not a kid and I'm not scared of flying, I do it all the time." he said as he clambered into the cannon, causing the grizzly worker to give off a booming laugh.

"Oh ya do?" He asked with a smile and a twinkle of mischief in his eye visible even in the dim torchlight.

"Yeah, It's just the landing I'm worried about." he snarked back with an anxious edge as the firing chamber descended. Blue took a big gulp and closed his eyes, waiting for the cannon blas-

"WHAAAAUAUAUAUAGH!"

Link winced as he watched his companion sail away. He stepped onto the cannon's platform and gave the jolly man a nod of conformation, during which he noticed something. The humor on the man's face vanished and he only allowed his grave and serious face to show quick enough for Link to catch the tone before he hid his face in his lantern's shadow.

"Link, I know that's you..."

Link froze and his hand strayed to the boomerang on his belt. The mechanic gave a soft chuckle and a dismissive wave of his hand. "Relax hero, I'm not against ya, even though half of Hyrule is."

"What are you talking about? And how do you-"

"Know your name? That's a bit of a dumb question, isn't it? since you did already put down the wind sorcerer once, your famous around Hyrule, if you couldn't figure that out." another soft chuckle at his own joke "But more importantly, you and your friends need to watch yourself, you're all wanted now."

"What? Why? Who would want me captur-?" he asked wildly. The man shook his head slowly.

"Not captured, Killed. The king himself wants your head on the sword you bear brought to him, for quite the sum of rupees too. Charges being kidnapping royalty, acts of unprovoked violence, pillaging, destruction of crops..."

Link stood in bewilderment, hardly believing his ears.

Shadow.

How could one imposter cause so much damage in the time he was out? How long was he out for anyway?

"Burglary, illegal use of heavy machinery, trespassin', disrupting the peace... the list just goes on. All caused by you, 'xcept alot darker and angrier accordin' to descriptions, but I'm thinkin' "how can one guy do that much with so little time?" especially after all he done for Hyrule? It makes no sen-"

Link cut the man off quickly. "How long ago since Zelda went missing?"

The man pondered briefly, "Reports went out about two days ago, but lotsa people think the Guard took a day or so to find her to prevent this kind of panic..."

"TWO DAYS? No one could cause that much trouble in that little time, why am I being blamed?"

"Dunno. I'm not in charge of the law... The law... Hey, mabey you oughta head to the castle! If you turn yourself in, you might get a chance to put a say in these matters and clean your slate!" the man exclaimed. "Go calmly and you might get a chance for a hearing! If you and the others went peacefully, maybe the higher ups would listen for a second before they shoot ya!"

Link took it into heavy consideration "How long to Hyrule Castle from here?"

"I just passed through myself after hearing about some rusty cannon issue in there. Took me a week travelin' by road, and it'd take mabye four days climbing the mountain at your rate, but that's if your prepared" he noticed the look of impatience Link had "But there is a shortcut through the Cave of No Return..."

This caught Link's attention. "A cave? How long will that take?" he asked eagerly.

The man's hearty laughter rung throughout the cavern. "They call it that for a reason, It's cause no one who goes in comes out! I've heard rumors it'll get you through in a day or less, but them's just made up stories from nutty ol' travelers, the entrance is down across a bridge on the fall's banks below us, but you should climb the mountain if ya got the right gear!"

Link shook his head, "We've got nothing"

"Oh! Well I suppose you could always take the road if you have that kinda time... but you might get attacked by anyone who might recongize ya... What if we disguised the four of you'se as a travelin band..."

"Bottom of the falls, gotcha." BANG

Link flew off with the mechanic's directions in his head, unable to tolerate the man's droning much longer. "GOOD LUCK KID!" he heard hollered behind him as he soared out the doorway above.

"Yer gonna need it..."

* * *

><p>The flight was exhilarating, but terrifying. Red flailed about in panic as he tried to adjust his aimless sail through the air. Something hit him in the side of the head and his arms wrapped around the object as the boy went spiraling out of control. At every turn he noticed the light ahead of him getting bigger until he finally tumbled through the doorway and back next to the sunlit waterfall, the object tumbling out of his hands as he rolled towards the cliffs face, slowing just as he reached the edge.<p>

Red groggily sat up and shook his head, then heavily lay down once again. _Oh my goddesses, I'm going to puke _he thought staring up. The sky above him was even spinning until Purps leaned his head over the stunned berserker. "You okay?" he asked distortedly as the clouds behind him swam in circles through Red's vision. Red took his rolling eyes off the dizzying sight and rolled over to stare at a single blade of grass he allowed to fill his vision.

"Din dammed, I don't even know." he said in what sounded like a booming voice that would fill a concert hall. To Purps it only sounded like a faint and weak mumble, but the senses would deceive you after head injuries... he had learned from experience.

Purps walked over to retrieve the fallen object Red was clutching on his entrance and he found a very sizable green Force Gem. It was like the one Link had found earlier with Shadow's corpse. That brought up a new train of thought for Purps as he collected the Gem, what _was_ Shadow? He didn't look like he belonged to anybody, Vaati in particular since Shadow had hid away during their first confrontation with the wind mage, even though Shadow _should _be dead... Which lead to another question of why the wind mage spared them? Purps sat down on a soft rock and clutched his head in one hand, the other on the Force Gem. So much to consider and so many questions.

THUMP.

A noise came from the exit Red and Purps just came from followed by a wheezing noise. Purps shot his head up and hand to his sword only to see Blue striding forward shakily. Purps lowered his guard and waved, Blue returned the gesture with a nod.

"Any reason you're sitting on Red?" he asked almost casually. Purps looked down for the first time since he had settled himself... apparently on his companion. He jumped up with a hurry and Red took in a heavy breath.

"Geez Purps, you've got eyes like a damn hawk!" said Red sarcastically as he sat up and brushed the loose grass of his tunic's front, stretching his back as he did so.

"Sorry, I was kinda somewhere else..."

"Haha, aren't you always?" Blue said jokingly as he rapped his knuckles against Purp's head lightly. A disapproving gaze from Red and he stopped, but it still got a smile out of Purps.

Purps looked down to his hand and tossed the large Gem over to Red. "Oh, you dropped this when you landed, just thought you should..."

"WHOA! This is what hit me?"

"Wait, where did tha-" asked Blue curiously.

"THAT'S what hit me on my head on the way up, 'Pretty buoyant' my ass, Blue!" answered Red sarcastically. Blue murmur thoughts to himself as Red held it in front of his thoughtful eyes tauntingly.

"Hmmm, interesting... I'm going to go find the path, you guys wanna wait for Lin-" As if on cue to interrupt him, a loud noise sounded from the cave they came from. Blue shook his head with a sigh "I swear to Nayru, some times..." He walked ahead into a second and slightly darker cave on his own. Purps took his eyes off of Blue for a second to confirm with Red.

"I'll go with him, you wait for Link." he said as he walked past Red, who gave a thumbs up and a nod as Purps followed Blue into the cave.

Link walked forward with a solemn look on his face, which Red wasn't unused to seeing, but his following words were what really caught Red's attention.

"We're going to the Castle."

* * *

><p>Blue entered the cave cautiously with his shield drawn, but he left his sword sheathed. The room was dark and barren, but there was a ladder being illuminated by the only shaft of light in the room. Blue felt it was a little suspicious being the only light in the room, but he saw no other way up so he replaced his shield and begun his ascent.<p>

"Hang on a sec!" came a cry from behind. Blue looked back over his shoulder and saw Purps jogging towards the ladder. He put one hand on the first rung, and then pulled it back with a smirk on his face. "It might be unstable, so I think I'll wait till you reach the top."

Blue shrugged and continued climbing, "Was that a fat joke?" he had to yell back over his shoulder to ask. He climbed over the ledge and sat by the ladder to watch Purp's slower ascent.

"Nope, the ladder looks shady is all. Besides, calling you fat is Red's thing, right?" responded Purps as he reached the top.

Blue grabbed his wrist and helped him up with a scoff, "Calling me _anything _is Red's job, what's with him anyway?" he asked as Purps stood up with Blue's generous but unnecessary help.

Purps responded with a chuckle "Calm down, he's just in a bad mood today, I think he wanted Shadow to put up more of a fight, you know he always strikes up to a challenge." he said as he looked around the second floor.

It was much better lit since there was a skylight roughly twenty feet above them that cast its golden daylight into the larger room. What looked like a caved in section of the roof rested at a jagged slope against the wall, but something shiny was resting on top of the pile of rubble and loose rocks, making it worth the risk. Blue and Purps started towards landslide across the small cavern.

"I guess Red's got a thing about fighting himself, if you catch my drift." he replied smartly. Blue put his hands onto of a large piece of rock and shook it around to test its stability. Satisfied, he pushed himself up and dragged his injured leg up behind him and continued his climb.

"Hey I was thinking, since the Force Gem Red found was apparently was floating thanks to magic, maybe the one in the water was also suspended by magic? It might have been a spell put on it, but what if the Gems levitate by their own power?"

Purps hopped across a small gap and onto a shaky piece of rock and immediately scrambled back off of it as the chunk of earth rolled down the hill. "I'm sorry, what did you say?" he asked.

Blue groaned, "If the Gem was floating in the air... wait, was it?"

"Was it what? Floating?" asked Purps absently as he planned his next move up the treacherous slope.

"Yeah, or was it like, wedged in the wall?" asked Blue, climbing across the debris like no one's business. Purps stopped once more and put a hand to his chin to ponder.

"You know, I never asked... Hmm, Careless of me not to." he said finally. He looked up and saw that Blue was already on top of the slate heap and was wiggling something orange-ish out from under a pile. He triumphantly pulled out another boomerang.

"What the- WHOAAAAA"

Blue pulled a bit too hard and he fell backwards as the weapon came free of the landslide, taking a part of the rock wall with it. Blue half rolled, half ran down the small hill as he was chased by pounds of rolling dirt, earth, and rocks. He collided into Purps and the two tripped into a shallow hole, landing with Purps under Blue, and more than a few pounds of rubble separating them and the light from the sky.

Link poked his head above the ladder and saw clouds of dust settling as a few more stray rocks slid into place. He called out for his copies names and only received a small click in response.

BOOM

A pile of earth and Links came flying out of the ground and into the air as Blue and Purps were launched wailing from the cannon they had fallen into straight up out of the skylight, leaving only Link behind.

"...whoa..." was Link's only response as he emerged from the ladder with Red following him. He climbed into the cannon after a quick observation while Red reactivated a primer switch he found on the wall behind a small pile of rocks, which had apparently readied the cannon during the landslide. Another click and a loud boom, and another hero was on his was. Red shook his head while he watched Link sail away as he re-armed the man cannon for himself.

"Man, we've just got some kinda luck..." he mumbled as he jumped into the firing hole and launched himself none too quietly or calmly after his group.

* * *

><p>With a thump, Link rolled to his feet after landing in the soaked grass, he quickly checked over his shoulder and saw that they had reached the top of the waterfall. With a turn, he looked ahead and quickly corrected himself.<p>

_One _waterfall. They were gathered around the bank of a small pool that had rapid currents pulling the water off of the nearby cliff to form the first of the falls, and all the while the pool was being refilled by another waterfall reaching far above the extent they could see. It was a cascade that seemed to reach the all the way to the peaks of the mountain the water had hewn into, and the falls formed rivers that could have run all the way to the Eastern coast of Hyrule.

Link quickly overlooked the majesty of the mountains and rushed ahead to find where his team had gone off to. He didn't have to look far. Blue was fighting to keep his grip on a rock on the riverside while Purps held tightly onto Blue's hard leather boot. The current was pulling them towards the waterfall and about to rip them off the cliff they had struggled to climb. Blue noticed Link's arrival.

"LINK! OVER HERE!"

Link ran over to the rapidly flowing riverside yelling at his team over the roar of the water pounding over the falls.

"HOW DID YOU GET HERE?"

"CANNON'S FAULT, NOT MINE!"

"OR MINE!" chimed in Purps, making a rather silly sight with his legs flopping in the swift torrent behind him, he seemed to be having a good time in spite of the situation.

Link rolled his eyes and grabbed Blue's hand, "C'mon! Lets get you on some dry la-"

"WELL LOOK WHO'S HERE?" yelled a strained voice from above. Link's view shot up and he saw the green freak Tingle of all people floating above him, suspended by his bright red balloon backpack, now adorned with a white bandage "X" covering a hole in the cherry hued balloon

"HOW NICE TO SEE YOU AGAIN, MR. FAIRY! Or should I say... LINK!" he yelled, flailing his arms to demonstrate his fury, though the effect was lacking and left him to look like a toddler throwing a tantrum, in midair no less.

"THOSE BANDITS WERE RATHER NICE AFTER THEY FIGURED I WASN'T YOU. ESPECIALLY AFTER TINGLE PROMISED TO HELP BRING YOU IN FOR OH SO MANY LOVELY FORCE GEMS." he cackled over the noise of the falls.

"Oh boy, this again..." said Blue, but the sound only reached his ears. Link's eye's darted left to right as he looked for a way to get them out of the mess they had quickly found themselves in. He couldn't get his boomerang without letting go of Blue and dropping him off the falls...

"I KNOW! I'LL START WITH THE PINK ONE! THE IMPOSTER WHO FANCIES HIMSELF A POET, YES?" He dropped a sack from his bag and pulled a string and a button as air rushed out off his balloon and Tingle lowered himself near the rushing waters. He reached down and grabbed Purps by the ankle and twisted some knobs on his pack's side. Slowly, the two began to rise up out of the water as Tingles balloon filled with air. Purps struggled and swore along the way, but his grip begun to loosen on Blue's leg and the two started to take to the air.

"I'LL BE BACK FOR THE REST OF YOU SOON... TRY NOT TO GO ANYWHERE! WAHAHAHAHAHA!"

With another boom, barely audible over the falls, Red went flying forth from the pit the party had come from. Oddly enough, he seemed to have the same lopsided trajectory that had launched Blue and Purps into the water in the first place. He slammed into the balloon suspending Tingle and he scrambled to secure a grip so he would not tumble into the roaring falls beneath them.

"Hey Red! Nice of you to drop in!" shouted Purps from beneath the two, but his terrible joke fell on deaf ears (aside from a groaning Blue).

Both tingle and Red were startled, an emotion that was quickly replaced with anger.  
>"YOU." hissed Red hanging onto a strap for dear life; he began kicking at Tingle with flailing legs as Tingle retaliated by punching at his red hitchhiker, releasing his grip on Purps in the process.<p>

Purps fell into the roaring falls with a loud splash, yet he never loosened his grip on his team mates, causing both Blue and Link to come tumbling into the swift flowing water right behind him.

"AAAAUUUUUUUUGGGGGgggghhhhhh..."

The collective scream slowly faded over the roar of water, but the falls were muffled by Red's response of rage. Red came swinging across a rope on Tingle's pack screaming for revenge, drawing a weapon from his side as he swung. He unintentionally released air from the balloon as he arrived face to face with Tingle while the balloon slowly sank in altitude and towards the rapids.

Panic was the first emotion splattered across Tingle's face as Red growled viciously up at him, and the sight of the scorching flame rod and a malicious scowl did not calm the self proclaimed fairy.

""? ?"

But tingle's quickly stammered out excuses fell on deaf ears. The flame rod crackled to life in response and Red swung the blistering bludgeon over his head and smashed it into the side of the air filled balloon.

KA-BOOM

With a mighty explosion, Tingle was sent sky-high until he was all but a faint sparkle in the distance. Red was thrown backwards into the water, dowsing the flames on his body, but he quickly followed his party over the waterfalls lip. Black spots filled Red's vision as he felt his limbs growing heavy like lead and the rush of wind and roar of the water tumbling around him slowly numbed out as he lost consciousness on his way down...

down...

down...

* * *

><p>...<p>

"WAUUUUUUUGHHHH-

SPLOSH!

Link and his companions hit the water hard, but the waterfall's torrent kept the pool of water in a constant churning motion and in a mostly soft state, keeping serious harm from coming to the Heroes of the Four Sword.

It still hurt like hell though.

The sound of their bodies hitting the water was like that of poultry being smacked with a log, Purps lost whatever breath was left as he was subjected to gravity's punishment. He gasped for air underwater, and quickly realized the futility of it as his lungs filled with water and he scrambled to figure out which side was up and down. He broke the surface a small distance from where the falls ended and flung himself onto land, coughing up the water in his lungs as he did so. He looked up and searched the nearby land for any signs of his friends and saw Blue's torso moving up and down vehemently as he sucked in as much air as he could. His mouth moved, but Purps couldn't hear him, but he figured what Blue meant was "Ouch" or something like it. Link himself was hunched over knee deep in shallow water, almost in a pushup position, puking out his stomach's contents, which were sucked downstream by the currents. They didn't seem to be in any good positions to help at the moment decided Purps. Something was missing though, there was no sign of Red.

Purps' eyes swept to the top of the falls and he saw Red's limp body tumble into the water, fortunately avoiding the few rocks there were at the falls base. He smacked into the water, drawing a wince from Purps, but he did not seem to be coming back up. One... Two... Three... Time seemed to slip by and still no sign of... WAIT!

Red's hat floated to the surface, but the boy was nowhere to be seen. Purps gulped and look around, almost searching for guidance and help, but his team was still recovering and in no state to get back into the water. He sucked in as much air as he could and waded back into the water, grabbing Red's hat as it floated by and tossing it back onto the shore along with his as he submerged under the water. He had some trouble seeing under the murky churning water, but he could make out a humanoid shape drifting down the river. Purps swam after it furiously, and upon reaching it he wrapped an arm around Red's chest. Purps tried to swim back up the stream to the rest of the group, but he couldn't fight the current with Red's weight and using just one arm, so he dragged the limp body over to the nearest and shallowest area. He laid Red face up onto the shallows, and his head and mouth could at least break the water, but he wasn't breathing.

"...uh... Red?"

Purps leaned his ear over Red's mouth, listening for wind whispering through his lips... nothing but the lapse of water against the two, Purps tilted Red's head back, trying to clear the airway, but still no breath. Purps took a gulp and glanced around quickly and looked back at his companion, who desperately needed air in his lungs. Purps sighed and took a deep breath, sucking up as much air as he could before he leaned in to start giving mouth to mouth to Red...

"BLLLUUUAAARRGUARGGH!"

Red jolted up in an instant and he was puking out the water in his system. His body decided for him that coughing wasn't quick enough; he greedily sucked in air when his body wasn't forcing water out of his mouth, sputtering and gasping in this airless purgatory. Unfortunately, he also happened to get most of the vomit on Purp's tunic, which turned a nasty brown hue to match Red's lunch.

"Ugh! Gross man!" exclaimed Purps loudly, but with a faint chuckle in his voice, relieved as he was to be freed of the... awkward task of breathing life back into his friend. He wasn't even worried about the tunic; since they'd have to be swimming anyway the smell would come out...

"blarfgrafgbmlr *GASP* fgrblhmer...BLRRMMP" wretched out Red as his eyes filled with tears involuntarily, good Din did he hate this part.

When the puking finally ceased, Red lifted himself on shaky limbs, still feeling weak and... well generally bad after the fall, "Where's everyone? Where are we?"

"Well, you had a pretty rough landing and it took you awhile to come around... thought you almost died for a sec." said Purps, scanning upriver for any signs of Blue or Link. He shrugged over at Red "Almost had to breath for you."

Red cupped his hands in the shallow stream and started washing the bile from himself. "Nah, gonna take more than a little trip like that to kill me." he chuckled.

Red stood up after he felt cleaned and checked his gear briefly; just to be sure everything was as it... "Aw crap." Red muttered. He couldn't find the fire rod, it wasn't where he usually tucked between his shield and scabbard. He looked up just in time to see it float up to the shore of the small inlet they rested on. It had a few cracks running down the sides, starting from the red jeweled top and intensifying around the chunk removed from his past experience. A faint trickle of water seeped from the magic wand. He groaned and bent down to pick it up, shaking some mud off of it's surface.

"Craaaaaaaaaap" he said with a very disappointed frown on his face. He hated it when his things broke.

Purps turned with a curious glance at the damage, "Will it still work?" he asked Red

Red turned it over in his hands a few times, testing the weight as if to feel the magical power remaining (a method Purps doubted was working). Red raised it into the air and closed his eyes, but he cracked one open briefly, "You might want to get down" he warned. Purps pulled off his shield and hid with just enough room for his eyes to view. Red grunted, and a few sparks and a meager flame came from the red jeweled tip, but it paled in comparison to the fiery inferno earlier. Red lowered it to his hands and frowned. "Damn, guess don't open it in water..." he muttered as he replaced it into it's usual position, tucked into his belt to insure it didn't fall out again..

"Hmm, well, we ought to head back up river, that's were I left our hats."

"What about the other guys?" asked Red, unconsciously scratching the back of his head with his hand. His normally sandy hair was darkened from being wet, and he felt bald and naked without the trademark hat on, his whole head seemed lighter.

Purps started wading into the river "They're watching over the hats, don't worry"

Red shook his head chuckling and followed, dropping his arms to his sides. It wasn't like Red to be this relaxed, but something about Purps just calmed his edge a little bit.

* * *

><p>"What do you mean we lost them?" shouted the General. The light green armored soldier stood below him, looking like a startled seal being eyed down by an angry polar bear. The General gave a sigh and dropped his hand into his palm, "Tell me all that happened."<p>

The green clad scout held his shaky salute as he tried to recall what happened. "Well sir, we saw 4 boys dressed as the iconic hero, shield, hat and all on the bank of the river. We took aim and started shooting, after we sent back a man to report. Those were your orders sir, report when we found anything and capture or eliminate if they were the convicts."

The officer nodded blearily; orders orders orders, couldn't these men think on their own? "I'm aware solider, I got the report, and that's why I'm surprised you lost them. But go on." These damned changes, no one was acting like themselves anymore...

"Sir. We fired with our crossbows, but they took to the river. One of our men think they got a hit on the Blue one and we heard shouting like it was a fatal blow, perhaps two of theirs were killed-"

"Which man?"

"...which, sir?"

"Yes solider, the man who shot the hero, his name! What was it?" barked the general. Someone had to be rewarded for a prize like that, and if no one would take it...

"Name? Sir?" asked the scout, confusion detectable even under his face concealing mask.

The general allowed himself a toothy grin beneath his heavy helmet that his men couldn't read, maybe there was an upside to the new orders. "Carry on, you sent a party to check the river?"

"Well sir, we were about to, but then a strange green man came flying from beneath the bridge where they went..."

"...What?"

"Sir. We assumed when we saw a pointed green cap that it was Him, so we fired and knocked him out of the air. We followed the man a ways to where he landed, but he turned out to be someone else. A man named Tingle; he said he would help us capture the fugitives for a sum of Force Gems. He took flight using what we believe to be a hydrogen balloon. We patched him up and told him where to look, his flight could help us cut them off if they decide to scale the waterfall and head north."

The general nodded slowly. That was decently sound logic, so he could respect that, and turning the locals against Link might lower his morale, giving the hunting party an advantage. He walked towards the bridge where the events had transpired, just a bit always east from a meadow his troops had set up camp in. The scout and a few other subordinates followed his movements like automatons, waiting for further orders. "How many force gems did you promise this 'Tingle'?" asked the general. His heavy armor clanked after each step and his broadsword's scabbard banged across his plate like a bell being rung.

"Sir, we offered 400 force gems to the local" snapped a second green clad scout. "He seemed more than happy to help, but demanded 200 up front."

"Hmm, four hundred? That's half of our emergency funds..." muttered their superior. "Why so much?"

"There are rocks blocking passage downstream in the east and a blockage to the south. There is a path leading up the mountains Sir, we suspect the Hero would go there, and a balloon could get us a spotter there before he arrives." Barked the first scout.

"Hmm..." he pondered with a gauntleted chin to his hand. _The mountains, eh? But why would he go up Death Mountain?_The general leaned against the bridge's guardrail, watching the water flowing below. He wasn't admiring the view though; he was scanning the waters below. With all the big shot commanders out across Hyrule, the weaker and less influential commanders are stuck keeping a loose guard on the castle and surrounding areas, what more could they lose anyway? They already had their royalty kidnapped by a greater demon collaborating with a known fugitive, reports of terrorism across Hyrule all blaming the same man, and the new men under his command were so strange... If the general were to bring in the four real Links with setbacks like these, why, he could soar through the ranks, instant promotions and fame for him. His name would be known throughout the kingdom! The crowds would all be chanting his name... his name... umm... His name was... Uh oh...

He took a heavy blink and walked away from the bridge, barking orders at his men "Someone go to Hyrule Castle and inform them the fugitive is here! Scouting party, begin scouring the river for remains! We'll find that bastard or what's left of him!" his gruff voice was met with a chorus of 'Yes Sir!'. He let out a sigh and walked back towards his tent.

These damn changes...

* * *

><p>Yeah I suck at schedules.<br>Sorry, lack of support/catching back up on schooling after tsunami took more than I expected from my flow of creativity, but hey! Not done yet! I can't grantee another update soon, (gimmie another year) but I'm having a blast and I'm not going to grantee anything, since that might be a taboo.

Oh well, please let me know what you think: like, comment and subscribe! Or whatever the trend is around here...

Thanks for sticking with me!


	6. Chapter 1:1 PRT 4

CH 1-1 Part 4

Blue was prone in the shallow water, not moving, but breathing deeply. He felt like just moving a single muscle would cause him to throw up. So he didn't. He just listened to the pounding water from the falls and bid his time. He allowed himself to close his eyes and relax a moment, Red would have a fit if he caught Blue sleeping, but it had been a long day so far and the arrow wound in his leg was certainly not motivating him to walk on it. The only thing on this adventurer's mind was resting for just a bit, he would move when he was ready.

Coughing sounded from nearby, the splashes of someone moving through some shallow water by taking unnecessarily high steps. "You alright?" the voice was Link's, but Blue didn't really want to respond, so he flapped a hand in his direction. Speech reminded him of his lungs; his lungs reminded him of his turning insides. So did groaning, but he felt it was worth the effort anyway.

"So... is that a maybe?"

Blue's eyes shot open, he gazed back up at the sky above him. The sun was starting to set to the side of the mountains. A rainbow shone from the spray reflecting off the light. Beautiful. Blue allowed a smile to cover his face... it drooped a little as he remembered how strange and foreign it felt to move his muscles.

"Can you stand?"

He remembered Link's presence, felt obliged to respond. Someone once said to him "Actions speak louder than words", and words didn't feel good right now, Blue had already thought that through. His mind ran over it again anyway though. He felt moving a single muscle would be like carrying the weight of the world. Blue took on the self-imposed 'challenge' and raised one hand high with his thumb even higher while staring towards Link with the question playing through his head, gimmie a lift? _If you think about what you want them to see in your eyes, they'll see it _he thought absently, it was an idea his subconscious might have contracted, it was silly too, that would mean Link could discern this whole monologue by watching me. The only response he got was Link obliging and lifting Blue to his feet, no stares of confusion, which was perfect since Blue didn't feel like explaining himself. Talking and all that.

Blue took an unsteady step forward and tossed his hands to the sides to keep balance. Link reached out and grabbed onto Blue's shoulder to steady him.

"I'm good, I'm good." said Blue finally _Damnit it felt just as weird as I thought it would_

"So where's Red and Purps? I don't want to split the party so soon." asked Link. These questions were making Blue angry, but at whom?

"I dunno, floated downstream I think..." Blue murmured, he coughed a little and held his stomach. Link looked over in a slightly concerned manner.

"You sure you're alright?"

Blue nodded in response, "I just need a bit..." he said while he slumped next to the rock wall and closed his eyes, feeling the boomerang push up against his back when his shield was pressed against the rocky wall. He adjusted his position to something more comfy "They should be on their way back up here or something, they left their hats. Tell me what the plan is while we wait". Was it really so long ago he was so eager to keep moving? Didn't matter, he really did only need a few minutes

"Well, we're being hunted by the Hyrulian Army for terrorizing all of the land for two days of absence since Shadow was operating while we weren't. The person in charge wants us gone obviously, and even though Shadow is dead, he still had plenty of time to set us up."

"So if Zelda is gone, that leaves the King in charge? I thought he was just a senile old coot."

"He is, but like how Zelda took charge because she's royalty, some higher up military man or advisor must be seizing the opportunity to manipulate the King. Anyway, I think if we go into the castle peacefully and surrender we can negotiate something with the King. Doesn't matter how crazy he is, you just don't accuse someone who gives himself in that easily, we might even get a trial."

"A trial? That's our goal?" came an excited if angry call from the river bank. Purps waded through the shallow water and picked up his hat, squeezing it dry and tossing Red's back to him. "Link come ON that is so lame! The princess has been kidnapped by a monster, the people are scared and then a hero arises! He comes in and saves the day? NO! He goes to directly to jail! He does not pass go, he does not collect 200 rupees, he loses by free will! WEAK!"

Red nodded and put on his hat. "I filled him in on it and I agree, feels like a stupid shoddy plan. But it gave me an idea… We could do something better. Remember last time this happened? You freakin jumped to the call and we were charging right into the fray to get some keys Vaati left under his various rugs to get into his home and kick his ass!"

Link crossed his arms angrily "Red those were temples! Not rugs! Each was guarded by an incredibly powerful monster!"  
>Blue mumbled quietly from the side "Ohh, that's a terrible metaphor..."<p>

Red disregarded both their statements "And we kicked their asses too! Look, all I'm saying is I don't want to go in there and get sent to jail, or executed, or put back into the pedestal. Especially when we've still got an opportunity to save Hyrule again, and maybe we should remind the people who they really rely on."

Blue opened one eye and stared cooly at Red "What are you saying?"

Red smirked and gave a flashy grin "Lets be heroes again, the people need something to rally around that isn't an oppressive government or some kidnapped spoiled bitch" (Link opened his mouth to interject, but Red didn't give him the chance) "If we solve the problem on our own, the people remember who they need: what really keeps Hyrule running: Us."

Link crossed his arms "So how do we get to this godly hero image of yours?"

Purps picked up the argument with gusto, "Presentation! Walking up and surrendering is one thing, kicking down the doors screaming 'WHERE IS SHE!' looking like a badass is another! We trounce the guard, walk into the castle and make a huge show of how little we know: people realize we've been framed and they also get to be reminded firsthand who their Hero is by our ass kicking style! Plus, Red has a point, in desperate times like this, the people need something to root for, they need a champion in this dark hour. It's a win win."

Blue raised a hand and put up two fingers in a peace sign "Two problems: one, how does killing the entire guard remind people about how we're heroes and two, how would we get in without dying?" his hand fell to his side when he had finished presenting his points.

Red crossed his arms and adopted an angry face "Have you even seen that guard? We could totally kic-"

Purps put a finger to his and Red's mouth, looking at Blue and Link with his cheeks full of air. Link gave him a questioning look until he heard the snap of a dead branch on the banks behind him. Purps eyes filled with a look of dread and he dived into the river, followed quickly by Red. Link pulled Blue off his feet and tossed him into the river as well; he took a deep breath and dove after them without looking back.

He squinted his eyes under the water and saw the figures swimming into a dimly lit hole in the side of the banks. Link kicked his feet and swam after them

9

He tried counting the murky figures as they swam through an underground tunnel submerged in water, all three were there and moving. The light seemed to be coming from the other end of the tunnel, an exit?

8

Link wondered how long the tunnel was and if he could make it to the other end. He sunk a bit and kicked off the grainy sand floor to propel himself towards the exit.

7

Another kick off the floor and upwards, towards the glow directly above him. Link broke the surface of the cave and took in a deep breath. ~Not too bad at all~. All his team mates were assembled and bobbing in the water, the light was pretty dim and there was a crackling of a torch mixed with the clanking of wood very nearby. The soft clank clank came from a rope ladder dangling into the pool of water bumping against the rock face. It had some moss clinging onto it, but it looked like it could support their weight. Purps shrugged and started to climb the ladder.

"Go on Red, you were talking, had said something about us being able to take them on?" asked Blue in a rather snarky manner as he bobbed in the water.

"Shit, hold that thought, my hat fell off!" Red hissed. He took a deep breath and went back under the water. A brief silence of words while the ladder kept clambering about until Purps gave a low whistle from the top, their all clear sign. Link looked over towards Blue "You first?" he nodded weakly and put his hand on the first rung and began climbing.

"So... about that plan?" asked Blue from over his shoulder. Link looked up. "Oh... Well it looks like we all want to go to the castle for whatever reason, so we're hopefully gonna take a shortcut through this place nearby called the Cave of No Return if no one has any objections."

"Well, that sounds pleasant as hell."

"What's taking Red so long?" asked Purp's voice from above.

Link swam over to the ladder to make room for Red's return and put a hand on it to steady himself. There were a few bubbles coming from beneath the surface, then more, and more. Finally, Red breached the water, so did his guest.

"HELP! HELP! SEND BACK UP! AMBUSH!" yelled the guard in the blue helmet with the first lick of breath he got in his lungs while he flailed around in the water, trying to escape.

Red yelled over the cacophony and splashed around to try keeping his captive in a choke-hold position. "Like I said, we can take them on!"

"RED!"

"What? He had my hat!" he said as the body in his hands stopped struggling and slipped into unconsciousness.

* * *

><p>"Red... The HELL were you thinking?"<p>

Link gasped for air, bringing a limp body up a one man ladder wasn't an easy task, but now they had the unconscious guard up onto the ledge. Purps was holding a torch he found on the wall while Blue was walking about. Red was face up and smirking while he caught his breath, obviously proud of his work.

"Well, you said we couldn't take them... so I did it myself... heh heh heh." he chuckled. Link clenched and unclenched his fist with anger rising. "Hey, that's not all." Red continued, "He was by the bank and had my hat, evidence we came through here."

"Also , y'know, YOUR hat" chimed in Purps

"Thank you."

Link sat up. "That doesn't justify KIDNAPPING a solider! What'll we do with him now? We can't just kill him!"

Blue walked over from the ledge of the pool "Let's just talk with him."

"Interrogations! NOW you're speaking my language!"

"No! We just need to know what is happening at the castle. The cannon guy was helpful, but he seemed out of the loop. Someone with orders might know what's going on." defended Blue. The guard in question was being slouched against a wall while he recovered. He had been armed with nothing but a short sword and some light armor, and currently Red's belt tying his arms together behind him. Definitely a low ranking soldier.

"So how should we go about this?" asked Link. He had never interrogated anyone before; he wasn't even sure what information they should get.

"Good cop bad cop?" suggested Blue

Red grinned wickedly and opened his mouth "Tortu-"  
>"NO."<p>

"Hey, we're all the same." said Purps; all he received were blank looks of how obvious the sentence was.

"Nonono, I mean couldn't we trick him out? Like one of us walks forward and says something then hides and someone else says something... he might totally think he's hallucinating the whole thing, like his subconscious talking to him!"

Link pondered... "You might be onto something there..."

There came a groan from the helmet, the man was starting to come to. "Oh deku nuts, still planning!" mumbled Purps. Red gave him a look that seemed to say '_deku nuts? what are you, four?_' but no one caught it, they were all scrambling to hide.

"Huh... What? What am I... Ugh..." the armored man said. There was a dim light coming from the rocks in the corner of the room, and a soft clunking noise echoing throughout the cave. He sat up and tried moving his hands only to find them bound.

"Huh? Uh... what is this?" he mumbled "Captain? What are your orders?"

A billow of flame burned over his shoulder and Red walked forward from behind a rock, he tried his best to boom his voice, but its higher pitch made the effect lacking, "SPEAK." he commanded.

"What- AUGH!"

"SPEAK!" shouted Purps from behind a boulder to the man's left. His deep bass voice almost shook the caverns with its vibrations. Red dove behind another rock to contain his snickering, he wished he could have seen the poor sap's face!

"The- The Fugitive!" he stammered, his glowing white eyes darted around from beneath his helmet as they scoured the room. Back and forth and back and... HOW LONG HAD LINK BEEN STANDING THERE?

"Tell us what you know, WHAT'S UP?" said a Blue clad Hero, inches from his helmet. He pushed it back and knocked the man onto his back. By the time he had scrambled back up the hero was in green now.

"What's up?" whispered Red mockingly at Blue, who was sharing the rock. "I panicked." he shrugged as he lay back across the floor.

Link squatted in front of the kneeling man "Relax, you said something about a captain? There's a leader around here then?" asked the green hero. The guard shook his head violently, his helmet rattling around. Link sighed and stood up. He walked over to the darkness' edge till he was but a faint silhouette against the shadow. He spun about quickly, dashed forward and kicked the blue helmet in the side of the head. A faint voice in the cavern called out over the ringing of the helmet "RED!"

The Red hero knelt next to the solider, "That helmet must be all sorts of ringing right now, why don't we just take it off?"

"NO! NO DON'T! I'm under strict orders not to remove my helmet!" stammered the guard.

Red made sure his grin was visible to the hostage "Oh, well no one's going to report you..." he said as he lowered his hand to the cool rim of the helm.

Link walked back from the shadow's edge "Red, this is going too far..."

The helmet clattered to the floor, and even in the dim lighting, the face was easily identified as not natural. Purps stepped forward and Blue did as well to view the disfigured face in the torch light.

All secrecy went out the window; curiosity took charge over the Heroes.

The strange man turned and recoiled as Purps brought the light closer and the guard found himself surrounded by four different Links. He scrambled away from the danger towards a corner, but Blue flipped him onto his back and face up. He gasped, "There...There are four of you! But the scouting party said..."

"Forget about the scouting party, what ARE you?" asked Purps, confounded by the man's appearance. The creature before them looked like a man; his eyes glowed a white light instead of having colored retinas, his face was pale and dim, his skin drawn across his face, it looked as if his skin had never been touched by the sun's warm rays and he hadn't eaten in days. He squinted his eyes against the torch light and turned his head away. Blue nudged his stomach with his foot. "You never answered the question." he reminded the beast.

The mannequin before them gulped visibly, "I... I'm not allowed to answer that..."

"Not allowed or not going to?" asked Red with a malicious grin on his face. He placed a booted foot onto the soldier's chest and leaned forward with the faintest evil chuckle.

"If I told you I would be betraying the Royal Guard and all of Hyrule. I won't talk."

Link raised an eyebrow, "Betraying your...? That's nonsense; anything you tell us will help save Princess Zelda!"

"You know..." muttered Blue, "He looks kind of like Shadow..."

"Damn it Blue, will you drop this Shadow craziness?" snapped Link angrily, his patience fading.

"Think there's a connection?" asked Purps

"Hmmm, could be..."

Red leaned forward, "Only one way to find out; we kill him and completely remove any doubt of his fate and if no one shuts up about it, he's got to be related somehow."

The solider gulped.

"Red, this isn't a joking matter! We are not killing him!" said Link

A sigh of relief.

"Well, remember what you said Link?: "Magically created minions die in a smoke explosion, normal monsters die regularly, but Shadow left no trace... nothing."" recited Blue.

"Nice memory, ace. Are you suggesting what I'm thinking?" asked Red.

"Now I'm not suggesting any-"

CRACK!

"OOOWWWWWWW!"

"Hey! That was a pretty good idea! Let me know if you get any more, except actually don't." said the ever violent Red.

"RED!" roared Link

"Hey, don't hurt the guy TOO much!" said Purps, but he lost interest as they all examined the bludgeon on the whimpering creature's head. A faint trail of dark blood trickled down his cheek, but upon hitting the floor, it sizzled into a dark whisp of smoke and drifted into the air. Link stared at the mock man before them "So, magic monster it is, eh?"

"uhh... No?" suggested the "monster".

"Well, so you're a lying minion? Wow, that is low, now I've got no qualms if you live or die." said Link coldly, arms crossed.

"WHOA! Farore out man, that's pretty harsh!" said Blue in a rather rattled manner. "I mean, he might be magically created, but come on, everything is based on something!"

Purps nodded. "Moblins are mooks, but they're based on pigs and men, but more pig, so they're not that bright. But this guy is... somewhat intelligent. Copying a man like this... I don't think it's possible. Even if it is, it's a bit much for Vaati, don't you think?"

"Whoawhoawhoawhoa, hold the fuck up, did Link just say he's totally cool with killing people all of a sudden?"

"Shut UP! ALL OF YOU!" Link screamed. He drew his sword and pointed it at the quivering man's exposed face. "Answer the damn question! WHAT ARE YOU." he commanded with furious determination set in his face.

Something that looked like tears welled up around the man's eyes. "I'm... I'm a solider of the Hylian Army... I'm ordered to capture the fugitive Link... I'm also captured... by the fugitive Link..."

"Enough bullshit. Do you have a family?"

"Wha- what?"

Link pushed Red out of the way and punched the questionable man in the face with his right hand. "Do you have a father? A wife? Is there anything you care about? ANSWER ME YOU BITCH!" his grip on the Four Sword's handle tightened, his knuckles turned white.

Purps, Blue and Red all moved back and stared at each other. What was all this? They had NEVER seen this side of Link before, especially jarring since they technically _were _Link. The solider stammered, completely flabbergasted by the question. Link brought his sword up and to the creature's throat and looked him in the eye. "Well? What do you care about?"

White spittle came from his moving mouth, but his lips shut themselves tight. He seemed to struggle to fight his next words from behind his sealed lips.

"The... The Dark Mirror... Hyrule castle... G... Blue Maiden... Phantom...

Link...

Save... Us..."

The torchlight gave it away, his eyes were no longer glowing white, they were a soft hazel brown, the eyes of a man; but the white shimmering was flickering behind his true colors, he broke out in a sweat.

"Wait... What do you mean? Talk to me, are you still in there?" asked Link, but the solider made his move as the bright white glow creeped back from out of his pupils and started gradually overtaking his eyes. He pushed his body forward and shoved his neck onto Link's still outstretched blade, slitting his own throat. The light in his eyes died out and white gas poured from the gash in his neck, as he slumped over all of the Four Sword bearers gathered around him.

"See... You... There...

...

...

He...ro..."

* * *

><p>Link leaned against the wall and stared at the Four Sword he had placed by small fire they had erected. He was deep in thought. The only noise was the rhythmic 'step... step step...step step...' of Blue's limping as he paced about and the omnipresent clank, clank of the wooden ladder. Purps was staring into the fire, he took short looks over at Link and tried to conceal them, but Link found it obvious he was trying to study his face. Red was just sharpening his sword on a rock as quietly as he could, even though the Four Sword almost never dulled. They were all musing about something.<p>

Blue was tossing the guard's words over in his head again, the REAL guard, as he limped across the room. Something was definitely wrong at the castle, but the subject that always came back to Blue was Link's reaction to the knowledge of the guard's identity.

_I've no qualms if you live or die_

Blue shuttered. The real reason that phrase shook him was because in a sense, he was a creature of magic as well. He would not be around if Link had not drawn the Four Sword. And what set him apart from that guy? Would he just poof out of existence if his body were to completely shut down? Who would even care? Would Link? He thought they were at least friends... Another shudder. Best not to dwell on these things. He reminded himself he was just tired and he could have caught something in the muddy river, but...

"You should sit down Blue, your leg won't get better if you keep walking on it like that." suggested Purps quietly. His voice echoed softly in the cavern and died out, yet the fire continued crackling.

Blue just stared at him for a moment and then limped over the wall opposite Link's. Purps kept staring and thinking, never taking his eyes off the dancing flames, his own thoughts focusing on the guard in it's self. Copying a human life; he just saw it was possible, just unheard of. He wondered how they did it: did Vaati study some new magic? Human transmutation? It was probably that Dark Mirror thing; but why do it? Vaati had seemed content with moblins, the man pigs, or just controlling roaming monsters, less magical energy consumed to control than to make anew, so why switch to imitating humans? It was obvious he couldn't match the soul, but that man was still under complete command by someone, and the only answer he could find would be within the castle walls. Still, the creatures undying loyalty to follow its orders, it was like a slave. But he had broken free, he had helped them, there was still some hope ...for both of them.

Red was weighing the words he heard from the man and was dissecting them for all their worth, running over the facts the possessed solider had let slip. He mentioned a commanding officer and a scouting party, so they were organized in their hunt but he was at the riverside alone. He wasn't part of the scouting party obviously, since he referenced them in a distant manner, but he was so close to the heroes, not scouting. Going to the bathroom or looking for some food maybe? The bulk of this force was probably near them, very near them. They would have to prepare to fight as soon as they left the cave, and the sooner they made their move the better, they would be less aware and less prepared. He put down the whetstone and sheathed his sword, but did not move from where he sat, he just kicked his legs back and waited, resting while he had the chance. The guard had told him a lot, but there was one thing that stuck out to him, one word. _hero _. Those people were counting on them. Someone needed saving, and the Blue Maiden was one of them. He gave a wide grin; this would be fun.

Link stared intently at the Four Sword before him. Its cutting edge no longer stained with the slain... man's blood. He wasn't sure what happened back there, and he didn't want to think about what he did, but his mind kept straying back to the topic. Had he just killed a man? Something told him no; he had no trouble cutting down Vaati's minions and whatever monsters entered his path, they were dangerous animals trying to harm innocents or tools that worked to service evil, but a man? Man had free spirit, he chose his actions. That creature with the glowing eyes had no will, it was doing what it was told like a tool, but for the smallest time, it was a man with free action and choice. It was a man with freedom, and it chose to take its own life.

Its parting words sealed his decision though. They had to go to the castle; Link had invariably started a promise to the dying man. He would go to the castle and figure out what he meant. But first he had something to attend to.

"Guys... I'm sorry if I... startled you..." Link stood slowly, his words rung hollow through the cavern "I thought I could try what Blue suggested, good cop, bad cop, right? Scare the information out of him." he looked over towards Blue in affirmation, and Blue nodded, not taking his clear eyes off the hero. "We got what we needed to know, and we have to go to the castle now, for whatever reasons." he felt Purp's penetrating gaze on him and repressed a shudder.

"Agreed" Red stood up, putting his scabbard on his back. "We should probably hurry too, if we can make it to the cave by night we might be able to avoid the guard." he walked forward and picked up a burning log from the fire and walked ahead with his torch. "We'll have to be careful though; the rest of them should be near."

Purps smiled and got up, grabbing a torch of his own. "Well then, we've got a castle to liberate or what?" he asked nobody in particular. He too followed Red into the darkness. Link turned to Blue and offered a hand up.

"Come on, we still owe them one over your leg, right?"

Blue chuckled and pulled himself up on Link's arm. "Yeah, let's get going then... That's not how good cop bad cop works though." he joked, taking a torch of his own. Link followed behind him chuckling, "Yeah, well scaring possession out of a guy works just as well" he commented as they began to regroup and ease up from the tense moment. He breathed a sigh of relief.

They all took the bait. He hated lying, but there was no way to explain his actions in a wholesome manner, what happened back there wasn't heroic, it was... it was despicable. He hadn't tried any acts there. He just lost his temper; he had just lost his patience. Link just snapped. He snapped and might have killed a man because he couldn't hold back. If he couldn't keep better control of himself...

It will never happen again.

* * *

><p>Blue, Link and Purps jumped off the platform as it approached the far end of a large gap. Red took a single step forward, but he felt the floating walkway lurch and begin to pull away from the dock and start to return to the other end, the way nearest the water hole. The group had encountered a gaping pit just as they started to move out, but a quick push on a block and some minor squabbling and they managed to activate a floating walkway. It was shaped like a large 'L' and floated on it's own timed mechanics, so while the three others managed to reach the solid ground at the lift's end, Red had to wait for an extra round trip. He waved the other three off as the platform floated across the abyss and into the darkness.<p>

Blue took notice without so much as a nod goodbye and moved forwards with Link, towards the light shining down from a staircase. Purps had volunteered to wait on Red, shouldn't split the party too much, he had insisted.

Purps paced about and stretched his limbs, limbering up for whatever rigorous physical challenges waited for them up the staircase. He pulled his sword from it's sheath and gave it a few experimental slashes at the air, an upper cut with the sword held backhand, finished by dropping the point down into an imaginary foe's neck and bashing the supposed corpse away with his back. Purps was fighting an imaginary battle though; he dropped to the floor since nothing caught his weighted slam except the cold hard stone beneath him.

"OOF, hahaha whoops!" he chuckled as he pushed himself off the ground. He saw Red approaching through the darkness with another force gem in his hands, a large green one, the most common one it would seem.

"Hey hey hey! Look who's bringing home the bacon!" announced Purps joyfully. Red held it over his head and bounced lightly off the platform as it approached the ledge. "Can you believe it? This one just floated over towards me, just like that!" he said as he threw the force gem at Purps while waving his hands in a sorcerer like manner. Purps giggled as it fell to the floor in a manner that was not very magical at all.

"So, you want this one?" Red offered, Purps shook his head and picked it up, tossing it back to Red. "Nah, I'm not so big on the sword, plus it might be best if someone good with the sword overspecializes in stabbing things."

Red drew his sword quickly and brought the handle down on the gem as it came towards him, spiking the gem with his handle. It shattered into a hundred pieces and was sucked into the pommel of the mystic blade that Red sheathed in a flashy display of twirls. As it clicked into place he gave a hearty chortle, "Good, I wasn't gonna share anyway!" a flash of disappointed betrayal crossed Purps face, but it was quickly dispelled and replaced with a playful grin when he remembered who he was dealing with.

"Aww, you douche! Lets go catch up with the others." he chuckled as they started moving towards the steps leading out of the cave, still echoing from Blue and Link's passing.

While Purps was practicing and Red was floating, Blue and Link were ascending the staircase and, naturally, talking.

"So... you seem kind of rattled about that whole killing the soldier, yeah?" Blue cautiously prodded. Link gulped and nodded. "I'm going to run under the assumption that if that one solider wanted to die rather than be re-possessed, they all would seek the same fate. It's the only way I'll be able to take the castle with a clear conscious about killing them." he didn't want to be talking about this.

Blue absorbed the ultimatum, recalling and reciting the guard's last words. "See you there... Hero" Link visibly winced at that last word. "Do you think he meant it? That he'll see us there? I don't see how he would do that since... well, y'know" he made a slitting motion with his finger across his throat and let his head flop onto it's side with his tongue lulling out of the side of his mouth and eyes shut. Blue heard a vehement snort from Link and he gave a chuckle.

"Stop laughing! I feel bad enough what happened, I don't need you rubbing it in with lame jokes!" Link snarled "He _must_have had a reason for saying that, so I think he's still alive."

"Yeah yeah, I'm just messing with you, that body must have just puffed into smoke and floated back to the castle to get fixed up and fighting again." Blue said reassuringly

"...Are you serious?"

Blue pondered for a moment "Nah, they die and that's that for our friends" he saw Link getting somewhat furious "BUT I don't think this story is so simple, that dark mirror thing he mentioned, sounds kind of... important."

Link gave a grunt of approval, "He was breaking words up though: dark mirror, maiden phantom, who knows what he could really have meant." he said as they reached the top of the staircase "The only thing I'm certain of is that his death will not be in vain."

"And that we'll save the princess!" came the echoing voice of Purps from the bottom of the staircase. Blue gave a chuckle and even Link spared a smile.

Of course they would save Zelda. They had to.

The staircase led out to the top of a grassy knoll on the side of the river, near where they had landed after the plunge, and close enough that Link thought he could make out the telltale glimmer of the cavern's light shining from beneath the glistening water, but it could have just as easily been the orange creamy reflection of the sunset across the water's surface, glistening like molten gold rushing off in it's own way down the brambling creeks. Their perch was pretty steep and it seemed to be blocked from behind by the forest's seemingly impenetrable barrier on the east and south. You could almost see the child's backyard which contained the already broken fire rod, but that place seemed so far away with the dense trees separating connection with the distant scene. The north and west gave clear view to the falls and also the bridge where they had been ambushed, and a clear view meant clear vision for any eyes seeking to find, which Blue began to feel the moment the cave stopped providing a roof. Red bounced up the staircase and motioned Link to lower himself after forcefully shoving Blue's head below the grass line. Purps came soon after and they all began to search for the way the path continued westward by pushing over rocks and snipping away at tall grass with their swords. Eventually, Red picked up the trail by slashing a plant aside and revealing the false roots it had 'planted' which were covering a rotting trapdoor. Red flipped the lid while casting a quick look to either side and drew the Fire Rod as he slid down the ladder's railing and into the passage below.

He landed in total darkness on his feet, but coaxed the rod to burn at least enough to turn the tip of the rod into a searing red poker which scarcely illuminated the disappointed frown he wore. _What was once a powerful and mighty flamethrower, now just a magic cattle brander._A glisten in the corner of the small corridor leading down. Red moved forward and away from the ladder as he spied a metal chest's burnished enforcements half buried in the corner of the room, with the chest intact to boot. He bent over and lifted the lock close to the dull red glow of the Fire Rod to reveal the traces of time's damage across the rusted lock's brown surface. He gave it a tug and heard a creaking snap as the metal clasp the lock was fastened to broke free of the chest and clattered to the ground. Red flipped open the lid and peered into the black chest and saw a glittering gem begin to float up from the chest's depths. A red force gem zipped up past his head and he stretched his hands up above his head to try to catch the enchanted gem. It stopped directly above his head once his hands got close to the triangular pyramid, he wasn't even touching it, but it floated calmly above his head. Red lowered his hands and the force gem followed their path, as if it was suspended by a length of invisible string he held in both palms. He bent his elbows and brought his hands behind his back and the force gem followed until it softly clinked against the ruby of the Four Sword. A crack ran across the Gem and it was broken, the shards absorbed into the pommel of the Four Sword like so many other fragments before it. Red heard a cough from behind and saw Link standing with his arms crossed, tapping his toe against the rough stone.

"Are you done being greedy or can we proceed?" he asked coldly. Red sneered at him and didn't waste a breath with a response, but he walked past him and began ascending the ladder with the glowing speck of red light held near his mouth.

"Dead end" he muttered from around the weapon. Link's expression remained hard and callous as he watched the speck ascend ahead of him.

"Hey guys! Take the ladder, don't hop down!" he yelled above as he started climbing the rungs after the speck of red had kicked off the wall and out of sight.

Purps was the last to hop onto the stone bridge that probably went under the lake and brought them closer to the bridge. Faint trickles of water resounded all around them as though the tunnel itself was leaking, the constant dripping noise echoing off the walls and coming from all around them. Blue scanned the passage nervously and looked for the faint sparkle of water leaks across the walls; he even thought he heard a splash from below. He reached behind his back and gripped the boomerang for good measure, reminding himself that it was still there. He put a hustle in his limp... at least his leg had stopped bleeding.

The faint glimmer ahead hoped onto what seemed to be another ladder, and the red dot started to ascend up the wall. Link followed, and Blue took a hobbling hop across the gap and slammed into the wooden sticks and started pulling himself upwards. The ladder gave a rattle and a creak as a final Purple Link landed on the strained wood. Blue hoped the ladder wouldn't give out as they ascended it. A light shone down from above and one by one the Links emerged near a worn path, bringing them very near the bridge they were shot at. Blue gulped and reached for his shield, getting a bad feeling already.

"I've got a weird feel on this..." said Purps quietly, voicing aloud both his and Blue's thoughts.

Blue gulped loudly and drew the boomerang and shield "same... and it's not just because I got shot here..."

Link walked forward next to Red, but checked over his shoulder to look at the team. He had to make a double take though "Whe- Why do you have my boomerang?" he exclaimed unexpectedly as his hand strayed to his belt where the spinning weapon normally rested. Confusion splayed across his face when he felt it there, but also saw it in Blue's hand.

"... I found this one..." he murmured "do you think you could lower your voice a bit thou-"

"THEEAAAARRRREEEE!"

Energy filled the air, Link and Red already had their swords flashing across the setting sunlight and ready before they even knew who was yelling. A wave of blue clad foot soldiers like the one in the cave rushed from across a meadow and towards the bridge, almost all with swords already drawn and hollering. A giant of a man covered head to heel in heavy armor stood in a meadow with a broadsword pointed at Link and murderous glowing white gaze boring into the green hero as he shouted and barked out almost incomprehensible commands, pointing with his free hand and making wide gestures with his broadsword while 6 grunts scrambled to meet his orders. He raised his broadsword high over his head with one hand and dropped its point straight towards the heroes with a single command: "ATTACK!"

The blue soldiers had reached the bridge and were in full sprint to reach the Four Sword bearers. Link was slightly taken aback and startled by the ambush, but he drew his boomerang and hurled it at the approaching horde of steel. "Purps, catch that on the way back! Blue, see if you can help guard the flank while Red torches the bridge! Ready set go!"

He drew the Hylian shield off his back and charged into the fray. His boomerang struck across the helmets of three of the mooks up front and they stumbled to a daze while the rest of the troops swarmed around them. As the boomerang came arching back, Link rolled beneath it and swiped the nearest soldier's legs from beneath him, cutting his knees and bashing across his chest with the shield as he rolled up, knocking the crippled solider into the air and slamming down into the heavy wood before the mannequin dissipated in a puff of smoke and his dust was scattered by the stampeding soldiers. Link blocked a blow coming from above and neatly countered with a slash across his assailant's throat; white dust poured from the wound of the defeated solider as he fumbled to the ground. "Red! Turn up the heat!" he shouted over the fray as he took a step away from three ferocious blows that would have ended a less agile and alert warrior.

"Not gonna happen, Hero!" he heard from somewhere to the left. Red was twirling between the guards with his sword gashing across the foes that were still crippled by his right hand's assault with the bright red hot Fire Rod. Sparks flew as the hot iron skipped across light armor and found new holes made by the Four Sword to bring it's blistering pain to; the sword carved a hole in a blue helmet and the fire rod's searing tip would smash into the exposed face, both burning and bludgeoning the poor solider till he could take no more harm and scattered in the warm evening breeze, tainted with the scent of death and the clang of steel.

Red dived through the fray and brought his sword across all three of the stunned guard's stomach's and reversed the grip on his blade to decapitate them as they fell to their knees. Red felt it was time for a necessary display of danger; and while not very efficiently conserving energy, he used much of the Fire Rod's remaining power to loose a fireball at several of the guards that were clustering together. The billows of flames scorched around and across its victims, its tendrils inflamed the armor that covered the soldier's taunt and pale skin, effectively turning their armor into ovens to bake baddies in. The burn victims collapsed to the ground screaming as they were roasted alive until their ashes on the wind were all that remained of the group of hunters. Red had no time to admire his weapon's devastation though, he was quickly becoming swamped in bodies and swords driving at him from every angle trying to spill his blood. Many of the blades in the steel forest were battered away, knocked from the soldier's hands or deflected into another's way, but Red was tiring; he was slowing down and becoming vulnerable. There was only so much a full offense could do in a time like this. A heavy ringing noise resounded from behind him and Red spun around to cleave through a stunned guard's helmet; he pushed the dissipating body into another mook, knocking one of balance while the dead one faded into the air. A boomerang looped in from the side of Red's vision and bounced from helmet to helmet, chaining together a chorus of clanging. Red dove as the boomerang passed over his head, and he readied his sword for a Hurricane Spin to strike at least five of his opponents to the ground.

"HIYAAAA!" he shouted, bringing his blade arcing through the air and gashing across several of the guard's stout necks as he pivoted on his heel in a circle of death. They fell one by one around his feet, the fight and life taken from the mock humanoids. Red placed the Fire Rod behind his back, giving the boomerang thrower a thumbs up. When he saw that Blue had caught the boomerang and was readying to throw it again, Red also added his middle finger to the hand gesture and saluted with a laugh. Blue caught the look and gave him a silly looking sneer in response as they both focused back on the combat at hand.

Purps had his own hands full. He was taking opponents one by one with a strange mixture of martial arts and sword play. He would dodge a heavy overhead smash and deliver three quick blows with his whirling limbs; uppercut with his left hand to knock the helmet off, twirl and use the momentum to drive an elbow to the stomach and complete the spin by driving his knee into the exposed face. The guard stumbled away, but Purps didn't let him get far. He sprinted forward and ran up the sturdy body, putting an extra spring into his final step on the guard's face to launch himself into the air. He landed with his sword point first plunging into the neck of a guard sneaking up on Red, using both hands to drive the blade home with a mighty downward stab, decapitating the solider with his momentum and weight. He crashed into the body and it crumpled to the ground as the lifeless head rolled towards three remaining guards, the light briefly flickering in his eyes before he dissipated. Those soldiers took a terror filled step backwards, giving the dangerous duo a bit of room.

Red and Purps breathed heavily for a moment, giving the guards a spot of hope, "Look! They're tiring, we can't loose now!" one cheered confidently as he rushed in yelling with his sword flailing. Purps tossed his sword into the air so that it lingered in place for about two seconds while he dived between the legs of the offender. Those two seconds were more than enough for Red to pivot and catch the Four Sword in his spare hand; he diced the fool to beef with both his hands wielding the deadly relics. Before the guard could even lower his sword to block, his arms fell off, followed by half his torso and a section of his head while his limbs sizzled into nothingness on the wind as they clattered onto the wooden planks. Red laughed madly and ran after the two soldiers nearest Purps while they switched targets.

Purps dashed at a bumbling guard that stood near the lip of the bridge with his sword held shakily in his hand as if preparing for a cavalry to stampede him into dust. Purps gave the weapon a kick from the hip with his protected boot and a follow up with the same foot to the man's wrist to send the short sword spiraling into the water behind him. The guard took a few steps back and to the bridge's edge, his hands held pleadingly before him "Please, your omnipotence... have mercy!" Purps' face grew contorted with confusion at the odd title, but he gave a happy chortle and shook his head "Hahaha, Mah Boi!" he laughed as he lunged forward and knocked the helpless guard off the bridge and into the water with a flurry of blows. Whether the fighter floated or sunk, Purps wouldn't know; he was eyeing up the commander across the water. Armed with a billowing cape and now a heavy looking shield the size of a tiny person, he thrust his sword into the ground and held his position; and now his lackeys scrambled to ready themselves for the Heroes to finish with the bulk of his forces. Purps gave a low whistle of admiration, they were staying in the path of certain death; Link would only keep moving forward and anything impeding his path would only be... well, removed. Very resilient indeed, Purps could respect that.

If only he saw the sweat rolling down the General's face, he wouldn't have thought so highly of a false man following orders.

Link's eyebrows shot up as he saw Purps performing some rather impressive combos, he wondered how his exact copy could perform such an impressively quick flurry of moves. He felt his arm rattle as a short sword pinged off of the shield and he jumped back to reality. The last remaining solider stood shaking, his sword held loosely in his hands. He gave an awkward chuckle/growl and challenged Link, "C'mon, you're not even trying! You'll be dead by the time I'm done!" he threatened. Link blinked hard and sidestepped the next stab.

"Oh... Sorry..." he muttered as he chopped the soldier's hand off with a distant look in his eyes. A boomerang wacked into the side of the screaming man's head and he was dazzled as Red confidently walked forward and with two swords, with which he easily slaughtered the helpless servant. Link stared as the body drifted away on the wind... He had to wonder if these troops shared the same face as the guard in the cave as a wave of guilt coursed over Link's consciousness. He shook his head and reminded himself of his goals and why this was alright, _We'll see who's right soon enough_he thought as he twirled the dust off the Four Sword and sheathed the blade, remembering he'd need to re-draw the weapon in just a few short moments.

He breathed out a gust of air, and so did Red and Purps. Blue walked forward and offered Link back his boomerang, which he stared at for a moment before taking it back. "Thanks for the assist, but you should have followed my orders."

Blue cocked an eyebrow, "Orders? I wasn't aware I had to listen to those, sounded like suggestions to me"

"Some shitty orders" Red piped in, "if I had lit the bridge on fire, how would we get over to that big nasty blocking the Cavern?"

Link shook his head, "Whatever, just... do it next time, alright?" he asked the whole party as he trudged forward. There was no response, but he heard the hollow footsteps from both sides that let him know that his group was with him for now.

* * *

><p>The four heroes walked into the meadow, the setting sun turning the white pedals a vibrant shade of orange while the trees rustled with a final sigh as they caught the lingering rays of nourishing sunlight. The giant armored man shifted in place, and several tall stakes rose from behind both groups, trapping the two sides into the serene arena. The only noise for a moment was the shuffle of the three blue and three, more well equipped, green guards as they readied themselves for the coming massacre. The general turned his head towards the nearest green clad solider, the steel of his helmet grating across his shoulder plates. He paused for a moment, and then took in a deep breath that even Link could hear from across the clearing.<p>

"... I thought you said that you had killed at least one of them." he stated. The nearest guardian shuffled a bit, making an awful lot of noise with his armor rattling about.

"Sir... I said I thought..."

"We. Don't. Think." he said, very loudly and clearly. "Should we survive this battle, you can report of you error to the current ruler of Hyrule Castle, unless you can... correct your miscount for me." he declared, gesturing with his heavy helmet towards the heroes. The green guard gulped and took a step forward, raising his shield.

"... Sir." he said with affirmation, his glowing eyes scanned the party of one for the weakest Link as he slowly walked into the middle of the meadow. Red leaned over and nudged Blue in the elbow and helpfully whispered "hey pansy, you could use the practice".

Blue stiffened up, "naw, I think I can pass on this one..." he started, but he saw a hip quiver dangling loosely at the soldier's side. Blue gulped and took one step forward.

"You're pretty brave for staying here... Why not run? Or just shoot me again from the bushes?" he asked the green scout. The solider in question just gave a steely chuckle and kept walking forward, "Who's to say we're not just the bait?" he asked. Blue pulled the shield from his back and scanned the forest's nearby shrubs for any sign of a sneak attack, when he looked back the scout was looming over him with the sword rushing forward for a stab. Blue's shield intercepted and knocked the blade off course, and Blue threw his weight into a push with the shield against his assailant. The guard stumbled backwards and rushed in again, "that was a nasty trick!" he snarled as Blue drew his sword awkwardly, gripping the boomerang in the same hand and blocking another attack with the clang of his shield. He took a step to the side and brought the shield and a bit of distance between him and his combatant, "I could say the same thing!" he retorted. "Downright deceitful."

The guard slowly approached Blue with his sword before him, taking the strides of a practiced swordsman. Blue brought his own weapon between himself and the scout's blade, taking limping steps backwards. The scout made a strange noise and lunged forward with a side swipe. The sapphire Four Sword took the weight if the swing and was knocked away from Blue's arm, his boomerang tossed with it.

"HA HA! I have you now!" the scout said triumphantly. Red shook his head and let his palm catch his forehead, reaching for the sword on his back. He felt a green sleeved hand weigh on his shoulder and lower his arm, "Wait for it," Link said "I think I see what he's getting at..." he said with a faint smile tugging at his mouth. Blue took light steps to keep the bloodthirsty scout from getting a hit, either evading or blocking several potentially lethal strikes while he danced back to where his sword landed. He rolled towards the weapon as the boomerang swung back over his head and across the guard's face, causing him to stumble backwards. Blue grabbed the blade's handle mid-roll and moved quickly to strike the dazed solider across the belly. He gasped and was pushed backwards by the crafty move, he even stumbled a bit as white whisps trailed from the wound, but he did not collapse like so many others that day.

Blue retrieved his boomerang and nestled it into his belt, "That's for the leg you bastard." he taunted as he brought his weapon before him in a more proper (but still awkward) stance. The guard coughed out a billow of smoke, "Downright deceitful indeed." he sputtered as he charged back into combat. Blue blocked his initial slice, and went for a stab to the leg, but his blade found a shield blocking his attack. He ducked and narrowly avoided a chop that might have decapitated him. He kicked out with his good leg, and the solider moved away from him, but he toppled to the ground by putting too much weight on his injured leg.

"Grr... Damnit" Blue swore as he stood up. The scout was already balanced and approaching with his sword leading the charge.

"Enough games, Time to DIE!" he shouted as he rushed forward. Blue let the bulrush glance his shield and spun around in a pivot as the guard knocked him for a loop. The point of his sword dug into the tough troop's shoulder as he stumbled towards the three observing adventurers. He fell flat on his face and slowly started to fade away, Blue sheathed the sword and grinned with the shield on his arm "You lost the game." he declared as a final parting insult to the dead guard.

"Ugh... HWAAOOOOO!" he heard from behind him. All five of the remaining troops rushed forward while the general lifted his sword with deadly purpose and the murderous command echoed through the meadow. A frightened look covered Blue's face as he skipped back to his group, taking out his boomerang as he hobbled away from the front lines. "Well that was exhilarating! Duel time's over though!" he huffed as he set himself behind the more ferocious fighters in his company. Link stepped forward and jabbed into a blue mook's chest and ripped his blade out of the tear in the weak metal armor he made, bringing the sword up to deflect the scout's sword as it dove in for a quick KO. Purps' amethyst encrusted sword cut across the green one's helmet and his palm striked him in the chest, a blow that pushed the solider away. He nodded to Link "Me and Red got the little ones; You and Blue think you can take Mr. General?" Link nodded and turned away from the short slaughter to focus on the looming boss.

"Hey Blue? Wanna lend a hand here?" Link yelled without looking back.

The monstrous guardian gave a throaty laugh laden with malice, "What's the mater, Hylian? Afraid you'll lose?" he challenged, swinging his wide sword above his head so it caught the final blood red rays of the evening light. This sunset was lasting an exceptionally long time.

"What, you got something against Hylians? Why don't you take of that helmet and show us your real face, you big ugly monster!" Blue bantered as he walked forward. Link was taking quick and sharp breaths, a scowl forming across his face.

The General gave a booming laugh, "As if I'd fall for that! I take the helmet off, bad thing happens, but enough talk!" he said, banging his sword's flat edge across his shield, "Let's see if I can't get a bonus for your head on a fuc-"

CLANG!

Link had already dashed ahead before Blue could get ready; He delivered a flurry of cuts across the large tower shield and stomped a foot onto the behemoth's toe while slamming himself against the shield, an opening presented its self as the general stumbled back from the ferocious offense, Link took it and jabbed his point into the officer's thigh, causing him to emit a deep howl of pain as he took a step away from the pointy blade. Link danced back and flipped his sandy hair from his eyes and scoffed, "Thanks for the help Blue."

Blue looked oddly at him and blinked heavily, readying the boomerang, "... Geez, give me some time, will ya?" he threw it directly towards the boss' head, but it was blocked by the tower shield. The barrier lowered, only to reveal Link's sword arcing down through the air towards the General's pale eyes. He twitched his head out of the way, but the sword still dug a chunk out of the man's breastplate. Link landed and rolled to the side as the enormous sword dug a small trench where he was moments ago.

"Too slow!" Link shouted, but he found a heavy iron boot connecting to his stomach and knocking him away and tumbling across the field. Link slowly pulled himself up and sucked air back into his lungs, he sputtered out a bit of blood and caught it in his hand. He clenched the dark red spot and curled his hand into a fist, looking up at the approaching giant.

"BLUE!"

DIIING!

The boomerang slammed into the aspiring general's head and left his senses shaken. The only thing he heard was a high pitched ringing in his head and his vision was blurred. He raised his shield hand to adjust his helmet, but a sharp pain sparked in his left flank. He roared and dropped the shield onto the small man, grabbing his broadsword in both hands and swinging it in a wide arc across the battlefield. He cleaved the heavy blade through the air, but the Hero was not a victim of the massive weapon. He had appeared near his Blue counterpart; Link breathing heavily with sword and shield and the blue one clutching his shield. The general took a step back; letting a hand roam over all the places he had been jabbed or slashed during this fight. Both his hands strayed to the broadswords handle and he raised it above his head, and roared as he rushed forward with surprising agility. The giant blade was over Link before he could even blink, and while Blue had tossed himself out of the way, Link caught the full force of the strike on his shield.

CRRRACK!  
>"AUUGHH"<p>

Link was pushed back several feet, his boots sending a scatter of daisies into the crimson air where he was driven through. Two deep gouges were trenched where his feet had been dragged through the dirt, and he collapsed to his knees when he finally stopped. He grimaced with pain and lifted a hand to his right shoulder, at best, it was dislocated... broken at worst, but this fight wasn't over. He slowly stood up and the officer gave a grunt of surprise.

"Still at it then? I thought I was going to drag you back alive... but if it's a fight to the death you want, so be it..." he readied his large sword again. Link said nothing, he dropped the Four Sword to his side and threw the boomerang he possessed between the man's legs, skipping it off the ground and letting it bounce out of sight. The man chuckled and snarled "You missed!" as he rushed forward over the slumped hero.

Thunk.  
>"HURK"<p>

The boomerang came back and slammed into the general's neck, and a sickening snap was heard throughout the blood-soaked meadow. The man collapsed to his knees at just before the hero, his eyes darting around, seeking for help. "My... My legs... I can't feel them..." he stammered. Link slowly stood up and took the sacred blade in his left hand, driving the point of it up the man's chin and ramming the blade through his head.  
>"HUUOOOOooooouuuggghhhh..."<p>

They froze like that for just a moment before Link dislodged the sword and yanked it out of the general's skull, allowing silky powder to flow down the helmet and over the dissipating armor. He said nothing as the figure slammed into the ground and vanished in an explosion of smoke, rising to the sky.

Link flicked the dust off the sword and sheathed it. "Twenty at the bridge, six here, one general, and one in a cave..."

Purps and Red walked near the fallen General and stood there, until a green triangle plopped on top of Purps' hat. "owww" he bemoaned, until several more of various colors and sizes started dropping down from the sky and into the heroes. Blue moved to the side and Purps helped Link off the hailing battlefield, but Red stayed under the torrent of gems with his sword drawn.

"ow, ow, ow, whoa, ow, ow, sweet, ow, ow, ow, nice, Whoa, damn, ow, ow, cool, owch, shit, ow, ow, ow, ohhh, ow, ow, pretty, ow, ow, fuck, ow, dibs!" he called as the torrent of Force Gems bounced off him and his sword equally.

Purps couldn't help himself from laughing at Red's mixture of pain and delight, and soon the peaceful meadow was left only with coming night and four young adventurers, and almost no trace if the skirmish that had transpired.

* * *

><p>The wooden gates that had risen from the ground to wall off the battle had burrowed themselves once again after the general was defeated, so the Four Sword bearers could carry on. The path beneath them slowly became less worn with tracks, but more destroyed and dead with... something. They followed the path for a short while before they reached the foot of the mountains at dusk. There were four large black eyeballs in front of a heavy door, the door built into the mountain's face and guarded by two statues with lit torches in their stone claws.<p>

"What is this place?" asked Purps in amazement and awe.

"Congratulations Heroes," A voice came from their right "you have reached The Cave Of No Return." said a massive grey horned owl resting on a post. The bird rustled his feathers and flipped his head upside down.

"Kaporea Gora! What are you doing here?" Link asked the Guiding Spirit, the owl waggled its head back and forth and answered, "I came to check on Hyrule's last hope... Now what happened to you and your companions? You look as though you've already made quite a mess of things."

Blue stepped forward "Wait a second, Link, do you know this talking owl... alpakagora was it? or have I just finally lost enough blood to start hallucinating?"

Link filled them in on the pleasantries and told the advisor of what they had decided about taking the castle, he nodded his head up and down and eyes closed the whole time to the point Link wasn't sure that the old owl had heard him.

"Did you get all that?" he asked once he had completed monologue. The owl nodded wisely and ruffled his feathers into a more comfortable position. "Quite an adventure so far." he mentioned.

Purps interjected, "Mr. Kaporea, what are those weird eyeballs in front of the Cave?" he asked, gesturing towards the humming and searching eyes.

Kaporea Gora sighed, "Heroes, those black spheres form a barrier of darkness! The darkness that Vaati created is syphoning the power from the land." he said, a gasp came from a few of Link "If these barriers are left intact across Hyrule, Vaati will grow ever stronger."

"Look! Already the green fields that once grew here have withered to dust." he exclaimed while gesturing to the eyeballs. Closer examination revealed that the four f them were connected by a chain of dark purple lightning that would flicker down to the zap the ground they hovered gently above. The eyes may have been painted onto the spheres of shadow, but they seemed to move and take in their surroundings. Link shuddered the longer his eyes lingered on the black magic sight. "It is unforgivable what he has done to the land!" the owl exclaimed, continuing his rant.

"How can we stop them?" asked Red. His hand already reaching for the Fire Rod. The owl closed his eyes and shook his head, "The power of the Four Sword can destroy the barriers! Link, you must bring your light and pierce the darkness!" the owl hooted emphatically. Red walked near an eyeball and all four fixated on him as he drew the Four Sword, raising it up and thrusting the blade into the eyeball, shattering it. He proceeded to do so to each of the four sockets of evil till the dark presence had been cleaned away from the field. "Hey, Papa Gora! How do we... huh?" Red had started to ask, but upon turning, he realized that the owl was nowhere to be seen. "Where's Gora?" he asked.

Blue shrugged his shoulders and asked, "Who?" with a tiny smile. Red gave him a rotten glare and spit to the side, "Puns aren't funny, Blue." he said in the coldest voice he could muster, but Purps was snickering as he followed Red towards the door, it wasn't until Link arrived that they realized they had no idea how to open the gates. They mused for a moment, and Purps shouted "Mellon…", but all he was rewarded with were odd stares and his own echo. "Ehh, worth a shot." he said, walking away from the heavy oak slab.

Blue took a few steps from the door and realized there were four pressure plates where the barriers had guarded. Blue called the team over and they all stood on one. They were surrounded momentarily in a soothing ray of light; but the lights faded and the door slid open, leading to the darkness inside. Link took the first step forward into the shadows, followed by Red, Blue, Purps

...and a rather stealthy pair of booted feet.

* * *

><p>So, 5 chapters and over a year later and our heroes have beaten the first level within an inch of their lives!<br>Yay!

In case you haven't noticed, I'm trying to keep the scenery and map layout almost perfectly accurate to the game to a near strategy guide level, but there are some things that I think many real people would at least attempt given the chance, and I'm trying to express the Four Sword Bearers as more than palette swaps of Link, and more than characters, but as people.

I encourage you to review, as it makes me feel good about my work and makes me write faster; since every review is a person with opinions and feedback that I really wanna hear!


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